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THE 



UNITED STATES 

7 



SANITARY COMMISSION 



A SKETCH OF ITS PUKPOSES AND ITS 
WORK. 



COMPILED FROM DOCUMENTS AND PRIVATE PAPERS. 



^jiu^j.K.riy^^'y'^^^ 



w 



PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION. 



BOSTON: 
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY. 

1863. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 

Little, Brown anb Compant, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



1 ^. : 



RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON. 



This Book was written in aid of the Boston Fair 
for the United States Sanitary Commission. 
December 14, 1863. 



It may be necessary to inform the reader that this 
Book does not originate with the United States Sani- 
tary Commission, nor with any of its Officers. But it 
is written by one who has served with the Commission 
from the first, and who may claim to comprehend its 
pm-poses and its work, and to relate its facts with 
accuracy. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 
ORGANIZATION-. 

PAGE 

Aspect of the war to women 2 

Women's meeting in New York, April 25, 1861; plan to cen- 
tralize work 3 

Dr. Bellows gives advice, and goes with others to Washington . . 3 

Address to Secretary of War, May 18, 1861 4 

Acting Surgeon-General to Secretary of War, May 22, 1861 9 

Powers asked from Government, May 23 12 

Secretary of War establishes Commission, June 13, 1861 16 

Attitude of Government to Commission. Objections removed by 

experience 19-21 

Army recognizes value of Commission ; 22 

Names of members 22 

Executive Committee begins work at once and meets daily 23 

Special merits of most active members 23, 24 

Present General Secretary 25 

Associate members, present number over 500 25 

To whom should Commission look for money 25 

INSPECTION. 

Permission to inquire into sanitary condition of the Army 26 

Inspection begins at once in armies of Potomac and West 28 

Twofold duty of inquiry and advice 28 

Physicians needed as Inspectors, and found ready to serve 29 

Standing of present Inspectors; duties in camps and camp hospi- 
tals 30 

Their influence 31 

Effect of sanitary inquiries, and influence of a good regiment. . 32 

Treatises on sanitary subjects distributed 33 

Army surgeons ask for fresh copies of these treatises 34 

Inspectors' reports tabulated; 1470 up to this time 34 



viii* CONTENTS. 

PAOE 

Inspectors' duties in the field 35 

Statistics of Crimean army , 36 

Statistics of present war 37 

Special inspection of army general hospitals 38 

Standing of these Inspectors; respect paid them by Surgeon- 
General 39 

Office of Statistics, data obtained from Adjutant-General's office 39 

Department of Vital Statistics 40 

Value of this statistical work for the future 40 



BRANCHES.— SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 

Relations of men and women in service of the Commission 41 

Waste of unorganized effi)rts ; mistake of sectional work 43 

Broad principles of Commission appreciated by the people 45 

Sacrifices made in country homes 46 

Council held in "Washington, November, 1862 46 

Closer relations with auxiliaries 47 

Circular letter from branches 48 

Relation of branches to central body 48 

Western branches: Northern Ohio, April 20; Cincinnati, No- 
vember 27, 1861 49 

Circular of December 13th, 1861 52 

Supplies issued ti-om Western branches, September, 1861, to 

September, 1863. 53 

Eastern branches , 53 

Business done in storehouses of branches 55 

Accounts sent in weekly from branches and relief agents 56 

Five storehouses in Washington, and care used 57 

Only one case known to be lost out of 20,000 57 



PART 11. 



GENERAL RELIEF. 

Work of relief began after Bull Run, July, 1861 58 

Extract from Mr. Knapp's Report, August 25, 1861 59 

System of current supply, 1861-62 60 

ARMIES OF VIRGINIA. Peninsular Campaign, 1862 62 

Commission applies for steamers to use as hospitals 62 



CONTENTS. ix 



PAOE 



Secretary of War gives order; the " Daniel Webster" assigned 

to Commission, April 25th g2 

Reaches York River, April 30th. First sick men received. May 1st 63 

" Daniel Webster " sent to New York. " Ocean Queen " fitted out 63 

" Ocean Queen " sent off g5 

At West Point. First wounded men, May 9th 65 

Services of Commission on Government boats 66 

Despatching " Knickerbocker " and " Elm City " 66 

Return to Yorktown. "Daniel Webster" arrives May 11th; 

sails May 12th g; 

" Elm City " goes north, May 14th. Routine of work 68 

" Knickerbocker " goes north, May 17th 69 

Division of work gg ^q 

Army at White House, May 16 71 

Commission Transport at White House, May 17, Lady's letter, 

May 18 ' 73 

" Daniel Webster" amves May 19th, sails 20th. "Elm City" 

and " Knickerbocker " arrive 20th 72 

Efforts to establish system ; difficulties in the way 73 

Recall of boats to Quartermaster's Department, and retransfer to 

Commission 74 

Commissariat of Commission 75 

Scenes on the transports. Lady's letter 76 

Night excursion in a storm. Lady's letter 79 

Another excursion to bring in sick men. Lady's letter 80 

Battle of Fair Oaks, June 1, 1862. Commission ready 82 

Confusion on Government boats ; Commission assists 83 ' 

Hospital kitchen tent brings great relief. 84 

Letter of member of Commission visiting the transport 85 

Prepare for change of base, and leave White House 88 

Norfolk, June 30, 1862 89 

Harrison's Bar, July 1. Lady's letter 90 

Medical Department better prepared; Commission leaves all but 

work of supply 92 

Commission Inspector at Norfolk for a year to supply armies of 

Virginia 94 

Depot at Norfolk left to Relief Agent, August, 1863 95 



Tvro inspectors sent to Cedar Mountain, August, 1862 96 

Commission in charge of trains of wounded going to Washington 96 

Second Battle of Bull Run, August, 1862 96 

Government supplies captured 97 



X CONTENTS. 

PAQB 

Commission supplies sent, and inspectors act as surgeons 97 

Commission at Centreville 98 

Battle (if Aniietam, September 17, 1862 99 

Dr. Agnew's letter. Sanitary Commission ahead of all other 
supplies, 104. Need of system of transportation for Medical 

Department, 105 100-107 

Depots at Sharpsburg, Harper's Ferrj', and Manassas 107 

Batik of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. Commission on hand. . 108 

Special Relief party arrives, December 15th 109 

Dr. Douglas's account. Distributing clothing, 111. Feeding 

wounded at the Landing, 112 109-115 

ChanceUorsville, April 27, 1863. Agents with every corps 116 

Lodges and Homes near the Army 118 

Routine of Lodge at Acquia Creek 118 

Army moves. Commission with it, June 12th, 1863 120 

Commission stores saved i 120 

Commission stores in Frederick concealed while the Rebels were 

there 121 

Gettysburg, June, 1863. Commission under f re 122 

Distribute supplies before and during battle 122 

Two officers of Commission taken prisoners 123 

Relief Station for wounded 123 

Lady's account of " What we did at Gettysburg." Tents of sta- 
tion and routine work, 127. Feeding men before the trains 
start, 129. Ambulances too late leave men on the hands 
of Commission, 130. Gettysburg women, kind ; farmers 
otherwise, 132, 133. Pluck of girl living near the field, 134. 
Death of Rebel Lieutenant, 136. 16,000 good meals and 

1200 night's rests in these three weeks, 142 124-143 

Surgeon and corps of dressers fully employed. Cook-house with 

ten cooks 144 

Surgeons and supplies sent with every train 145 

Camp Letterman Hospital and Sanitary Commission Station at 

Gettysburg 145 

Testimony of Surgeons of General Hospitals near Gettys- 
burg 146 

Field Relief Corps gives an agent to every army corps 148 

Report of Relief Agent with 2d Army Corps 149 

ARMIES OF THE WEST 151 

Lack of Reports from Western Department of Commission .... 151 
A week after Commission organized, its President started for the 

West 153 

Work began at once in Illinois and in Missouri 153 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAQB 

Commission Inspectors at St. Louis, November, 1861 155 

Western Sanitary Commission wholly separate society, founded 

September, 1861 156 

Western Sanitary, Hospitals in St. Louis; U. S. Sanitary, care of 

Post Hospitals 156 

U. S. Sanitary moves with the Army to the interior 157 

Western Virginia. Commission at Wheeling 158, 159 

Afttr Gauley Bridge 160 

Kentucky and her sufferings 160 

Inspection and supplies 161 

Sanitary Commission at Fort Donelson 161, 162 

" City of Memphis" Floating Hospital, February, 1862 163 

Depot at Nashville 164 

Battle of Shiloh. Commission with supplies and two large 

steamers 165 

Dr. Newberry's account 166 

Issues from the depot at Shiloh 166 

Plans for Receiving Hospitals and cooking-caldrons adopted . . . 167 

Hardships of Commission agents in routine work 169 

After the battle of Perryville 170 

Making and distributing soup at Danville 171 

Sectional aid 173 

Hospital cars 174 

Letters of U. S. Medical Director and Surgeons, and Major-Gen- 

eral Sheridan 174-178 

Army of Tennessee moves to Yazoo Eiver, Commission with 

it. May and June, 1863 178 

Better diet got for the Army by Sanitary Commission 179 

Gen. Grant gives Commission a boat for stores 179 

Gifts from Western Sanitary 180 

Supplies issued in May and June, 1863 180 

After fall of Vicksburg, July, 1863 181 

Every Agent with that army has suffered in health 182 

Supplies to White Eiver, Arkansas ; to Kansas and Indian Terri- 

toiy 182 

Army of the Cumberland accompanied by Commission agents. . . 183 

Sui)p]y of vegetables, and making hospital gardens 184 

Produce of garden at Murfreesboro 184 

Letter of U. S. Medical Inspector with Gen. Rosecrans 185 

Current supply 186 

Order of Gen. Rosecrans 187-189 

Army and Commission advance together, July, 1863 189 



xu CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Health report 190 

Battle of Chattanooga^ September, 1883 191 

Letter of Sept. 24, 1863. Supplies ready before the battle, 193. 
Work during battle, 194. Supplying temporary hospi- 
tals, 197 191-199 

ARMIES OF THE GULF AND ATLANTIC COAST 201 

Ship Island^ Dec. 1861. Commission Inspector with General 

Butler's expedition 201 

Inspector visits Key West 202 

Assistance to Navy, by supplies to gunboats 202 

Crowding of transports 203 

Stores distributed in New Orleans 204 

Field of Commission-Work in Gulf Department summer of 

1862 205 

Expedition to the Teche Country^ March, 1863. Baton Rouge. . . . 205 

Commission in wake of army on Red River 207 

Port Hudson, May 27 and June 4, 1863 207 

Officers acknowledge services of Commission 208 

Woman's Union Aid Society in New Orleans 208 

Army in North Carolina, January, 1862 208 

Timely relief at Hatteras, Roanoke Island, and before Newbern 209 

Remedy for bad water suggested and adopted 212 

Expedition to South Carolina, October, 29, 1861 212 

Vaccination of troops 213 

Special corps sent to Port Royal, February, 1863 213 

Bad arrangements for wounded on transports 215 

Commission now at Beaufort and Charleston. Storeship in 

Charleston harbor 215 

Extract from ''' Port Royal Free Press," and letter of Mrs. Marsh 217 

Extract from Boston paper ^ 218 

General order of General Gillmore 220 



PART III. 

SPECIAL RELIEF. 

Care of discharged soldiers on the way home. 221 

The " Home " in Washington 222 

Care at landing of men coming from the Army 223 

Internal arrangements of the " Home " 223 

What was done at the " Home " in nine months 225 



CONTENTS. xiii 

FAOE 

Lodges Dear railroads and U. S. Pay Department 226 

Collection of pensions and back-pay 227 

Lodges at 6th Street Wharf and Alexandria Railroad 228 

" Soldier's Rest " „ 229 

Convalescent Camp 230 

Nurse's " Home " 230 

Question of continued care of invalid soldiers 231 

Hospital Directory 234 

Anecdotes 235 



CONCLUSION. 

What means has the Commission had for its great work 238 

Mr. Bloor's letter to the Branches 239 

Estimate of value of goods contributed 240 

Liberality of Telegraph and Express Companies, 5rc 240 

Amount of money received 241 

Complaints and answers 243 

True work of women in General Hospitals 246 

Medical Department 249 

Reformed by Act of Congress, April, 1862 250 

Present Surgeon-General, and his measures 251 

Sanitary Commission as a teacher 253 

Extract from " Atlantic Monthly " 254 



Appendix A. Resolutions on Mr. Olmsted's resignation, and 

Roster of the Commission 259 

" B. Circulars, June 21 and 22, 1861 261 

" C. List of surgical monographs 266 

" D. List of Inspectors of General Hospitals 268 

" E. Circular letter, and answers to complaints 271 

" F. Chicago Branch, and appeal to soldiers' fam- 
ilies 282 

" G. Supplies to Army of Potomac 284 

" H. Help for prisoners in Richmond 285 

" I. Hospital cars 287 

" K. An officer's feelings toward the Commission 288 

" L. Expressions of gratitude from private soldiers . . 293 



THE 

UNITED STATES SANITAEY COMMISSION. 



PART I. 

ORGANIZATION. 

The Sanitary Commission is the great artery 
which bears the people's love to the people's 
army. The following pages will show, briefly, 
and in some sense superficially, how the people's 
confidence has been given to it ; what were the 
motives of that confidence, and the reasons for 
it ; and how it has been justified. 

When, in April, 1861, the guns of South Caro- 
lina were pointed at the life of her country, and 
the first shots were fired at the breast of that 
august form of Liberty, lifted here in the West, 
and shining with an aspect of redemption to the 
world, men were aroused to vindicate the vital 
principle of nationality : and in that great up- 
rising nothing was more marked than that the 
principle which actuated the men was shared 
alike by men and women. As the men sprang 
to arms, the women rose to find what they 
should do; nor had they far to seek. For one 
1 



2 THE UNITED STATES 

side of war is theirs, and that the dark reverse 
of it; theirs not only in the patient act of 
yielding their beloved, — to receive them back, 
it may be, in widowhood and bereavement, — 
but theirs in the actual succor which, God be 
thanked, it is their right and their place to ren- 
der to the suffering. This, no doubt, was the 
first aspect of the work to the hearts of women. 
Time was to show them that, by a great united 
effort, the work was to broaden out into a ma- 
terial good to the whole army ; that lives were 
to be saved, the vital force protected, and that 
women, guided by the wisdom of men, were 
to bear no small part in helping to maintain 
the efficiency of the army, and thus to share 
upon the field itself the work of husbands and 
brothers. 

As the men mustered for the battle-field, so 
the women mustered in churches, school-houses, 
and drawing-rooms, — working before they well 
knew at what they ought to work, and calling 
everywhere for instruction. What were they 
to do ? Where were they to send ? The busy 
hands went on, but where was the work to go ? 
Some fitted out regiments ; some sent to vari- 
ous points on suggestions afterward shown to 
be unreliable ; some sent anywhere, rather than 
nowhere. Little circles and associations were 
multiplying, like rings in the water, over the face 
of the whole country ; they were all in need of 
direction, information, guidance, and they felt it. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 3 

At a meeting of fifty or sixty women, infor- 
mally called, in New York, April 25th, 1861, the 
providential suggestion of attempting to or- 
ganize the whole benevolence of the women of 
the country into a general and central associa- 
tion ripened into a plan, and took shape in an 
appeal addressed to the women of New York, 
and others " already engaged in preparing 
against the time of wounds and sickness in 
the army." This met with such an answer as 
showed the deep-felt need of it : — and thus com- 
menced the " Woman's Central Association of 
Relief." But still the need of instruction, and 
the futility of trying to carry on the association 
without better knowledge of the work to be 
done, pressed anxiously on the minds of all. 
Then the Rev. Dr. Bellows — out of the many 
men, professional and other, who had come for- 
ward in the right relation of men to women, 
to teach and guide — was ready with the true 
advice : "You want inquiry from the only cor- 
rect sources. You must find out first what the 
Government will do, and can do, and then help 
it by working with it and doing what it cannot. 
You must have advice derived from the Govern- 
ment." Accompanied by a few gentlemen, after- 
wards members of the Commission, he went 
to Washington, and discovered there, in that 
moment of national emergency and inadequacy, 
the need of a far larger machinery, and a more 
extensive system than that already contem- 



4 THE UNITED STATES 

plated ; and so, through details which need not 
delay us here, he formed, he gained the basis of 
" The Sanitary Commission." The wisdom and 
devotion of one man gained, on that day, foi 
suffering humanity, the greatest relief ever per- 
haps wrought out by any human organization. 

The following extracts are passages from the 
letter to the Secretary of War which initiated 
that relief, and in which is found the first sug- 
gestion, on record, of "The Sanitary Commis- 
sion " : — 

AN ADDEESS TO THE SECEETARY OF WAR. 

To THE Secretary of War: 

Sir : The undersigned, representing three 
associations of the highest respectability in the 
City of New York, -^ namely, the Woman's 
Central Association of Relief for the Sick and 
Wounded of the Army, the Advisory Commit- 
tee of the Boards of Physicians and Surgeons 
of the Hospitals of New York, the New York 
Medical Association for furnishing Hospital 
Supplies in aid of the Army, — beg leave to ad- 
dress the Department of War in behalf of the 
objects committed to them as a mixed delega- 
tion with due credentials. 

These three associations, being engaged at 
home in a common object, are acting together 
with great efficiency and harmony to contribute 
towards the comfort and security of our troops, 
by methodizing the spontaneous benevolence of 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 5 

the city and State of New York ; obtaining in- 
formation from the public authorities of the best 
methods of aiding your Department with such 
supplies as the regulations of the Army do not 
provide, or the sudden and pressing necessities 
of the time do not permit the Department to 
fuinish ; and, in general, striving to play into 
the hands of the regular authorities in ways as 
efficient and as little embarrassing as extra- 
official cooperation can be. 

These associations would not trouble the War 
Department with any call on its notice, if they 
were not persuaded that some positive recogni- 
tion of their existence and efforts was essential 
to the peace and comfort of the several bureaus 
of the War Department itself. The present is 
essentially a people's war. The hearts and 
minds, the bodies and souls, of the whole peo- 
ple and of both sexes throughout the loyal States 
are in it. The rush of volunteers to arms is 
equalled by the enthusiasm and zeal of the 
women of the nation, and the clerical and med- 
ical professions vie with each other in their 
ardor to contribute in some manner to the suc- 
cess of our noble and sacred cause. The War 
Department will hereafter, therefore, inevitably 
experience, in all its bureaus the incessant and 
irresistible motions of this zeal, in the offer of 
medical aid, the applications of nurses, and the 
contribution of supplies. Ought not this noble 
and generous enthusiasm to be encouraged and 



b THE UNITED STATES 

utilized ? Would not the Department win a 
still higher place in the confidence and affec- 
tions of the good people of the loyal States, and 
find itself generally strengthened in its efforts, 
by accepting in some positive manner the ser- 
vices of the associations we represent, which are 
laboring to bring into system and practical shape 
the general zeal and benevolent activity of the 
women of the land in behalf of the Army? And 
would not a great economy of time, money, and 
effort be secured by fixing and regulating the 
relations of the Volunteer Associations to the 
War Department, and especially to the Medical 
Bureau ? 

Convinced by inquiries made here of the prac- 
tical difficulty of reconciling the aims of their 
own and numerous similar associations in other 
cities with the regular workings of the Commis- 
sariat and the Medical Bureau, and yet fully 
persuaded of the importance to the country and 
the success of the war, of bringing such an ar- 
rangement about, the undersigned respectfully 
ask that a mixed Commission of civilians dis- 
tinguished for their philanthropic experience and 
acquaintance with sanitary matters, of medical 
men, and of military officers, be appointed" by 
the Government, who shall be charged with the 
duty of investigating the best means of meth- 
odizing and reducing to practical service the al- 
ready active but undirected benevolence of the 
people toward the Army ; who shall consider 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 7 

the general subject of the prevention of sickness 
and suffering among the troops, and suggest the 
wisest methods which the people at large can 
use to manifest their good-will towards the com- 
fort, security, and health of the Army. 

It must be well known to the Department of 
War that several such commissions foUoiued the 
Crimean and Indian wars. The civilization and 
humanity of the age and of the American peo- 
ple demand that such a Commission should pre- 
cede our second War of Independence — more 
sacred than the first. We wish to prevent the 
evils that England and France could only in- 
vestigate and deplore. The war ought to be 
w^aged in a spirit of the highest intelligence, 
humanity, and tenderness for the health, com- 
fort, and safety of our brave troops. And every 
measure of the Government that shows its sense 
of this wdll be eminently popular, strengthen its 
hands, and redound to its glory at home and 
abroad. 

The undersigned are charged with several 
specific petitions, additional to that of asking 
for a Commission for the purposes above de- 
scribed, although they all would fall under the 
duties of that Commission. 

1. They ask that the Secretary of War wdll 
order some new rigor in the inspection of volun- 
teer troops, as they are persuaded that, under the 
present State regulations throughout the coun- 
try, a great number of under-aged and unsuitable 



8 THE UNITED STATES 

persons are mustered, who are likely to swell the 
bills of mortality in the army to a fearful per- 
centage, to encumber the hospitals and embar- 
rass the columns. 

3. The committee represent that the Woman's 
Central Association of Relief have selected, and 
are selecting, out of several hundred candidates 
one hundred women, suited in all respects to 
become nurses in the General Hospitals of the 
Army. These women the distinguished physi- 
cians and surgeons of the various hospitals in 
New York have undertaken to educate and drill 
in a most thorough and laborious manner ; and 
the Committee ask that the War Department 
consent to receive, on wages, these nurses, in 
such numbers as the exigencies of the campaign 
may require.* It is not proposed that the nurses 
should advance to the seat of war, until directly 
called for by the Medical Bureau here^ nor that 
the Government should be at any expense until 
they are actually in service. 

It is believed that a Commission would bring 
these and other matters of great interest and im- 
portance to the health of the troops into the 
shape of easy and practical adoption. But if 
no Commission is appointed, the Committee 
pray that the Secretary will order the several 

* Adopted ; and nearly every nurse thus selected is still 
in the service. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 9 

suggestions made to be carried into immediate 
effect, if consistent with the laws of the Depart- 
ment, or possible without the action of Congress. 
Feeling themselves directly to represent large 
and important constituencies, and, indirectly, a 
wide-spread and commanding public sentiment, 
the Committee would most respectfully urge the 
immediate attention of the Secretary to the ob- 
jects of their prayer. 

Very respectfully, 

Henry W. Bellows, D. D. 

W. H. Van Buren, M. D. 

Elisha Harris, M. D. 

J. Harsen, M. D. 
Washington, May 18, 1861. 

This was strengthened by a letter from the 
acting Surgeon- General to the Secretary of 
War, advising the institution of " A Commis- 
sion of Inquiry and Advice in respect of the 
Sanitary Interests of the United States Forces." 



LETTER FEOM THE ACTING SURGEON-GENERAL TO 
THE SECRETARY OF WAR, ADVISING THE INSTITU- 
TION OF " A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY AND ADVICE 
IN RESPECT OF THE SANITARY INTERESTS OF THE 
UNITED STATES FORCES." 

Sukceon-General's Office, . 
May 22, 1861. 
Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War: 

Sir : The sudden and large increase of the 
Army, more especially of the Volunteer force, 



10 THE UNITED STATES 

has called the attention of this office to the ne- 
cessity of some modifications and changes in the 
system of organization as connected with the 
hygiene and comforts of the soldiers ; more par- 
ticularly in relation to the class of men who, ac- 
tuated by patriotism, have repaired with unex- 
ampled promptness to the defence of the insti- 
tutions and laws of the country. 

The pressure upon the Medical Bureau has 
been very great and urgent ; and, though all the 
means at its disposal have been industriously 
used, much remains to be accomplished by di- 
recting the intelligent mind of the country to 
practical results connected with the comforts of 
the soldier, by preventive and sanitary means. 

The Medical Bureau would, in my judg- 
ment, derive important and useful aid from 
the counsels and well-directed efforts of an 
intelligent and scientific Commission, to be 
styled, " A Commission of Inquiry and Ad- 
vice in respect of the Sanitary Interests of 
the United States Forces," and acting in co- 
operation with the Bureau, in elaborating and 
applying such facts as might be elicited from 
the experience and more extended observation 
of those connected with armies, with reference 
to the diet and hygiene of troops, and the 
organization of Military Hospitals, etc. 

This Commission is not intended to interfere 
with, but to strengthen, the present organization, 
introducing and elaborating such improvements 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 11 

as the advanced stage of Medical Science might 
suggest ; more particularly as regards the class 
of men who, in this war of sections, may be 
called to abandon the comforts of home, and be 
subject to the privations and casualties of war. 

The views of this office were expressed in 
a communication of May 18, 1861, in a crude 
and hasty manner, as to the examination of 
recruits, the proposed organization of cooks, 
nurses, etc., to which I beg leave to refer. 

The selection of this Board is of the greatest 
importance. 

In connection with those gentlemen who 
originated this investigation, with many others, 
I would suggest the following members, not to 
exceed five, to convene in Washington, who 
have power to fill vacancies and appoint a 
competent Secretary : — 

Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D. D. 

Prof. Alexander Dallas Baghe, LL. D. 

Prof. WoLcoTT Gibbs, M. D. 

Jeffries Wyman, M. D. 

W. H. Van Buren, M. D. 

It would be proper, also, to associate with 
this Board an officer of the Medical Staff of 
the Army, to be selected by the Secretary of 
War, familiar with the organization of Mili- 
tary Hospitals and the details of field service. 
Respectfully submitted, 

R. C. WOOD, 
Acting Surgeon- General. 



12 THE UNITED STATES 



DRAFT OF POWERS ASKED FROM THE GOVERNMENT 
BY THE SANITARY DELEGATION TO THE PRESI- 
DENT AND THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 

Washington, D. C., May 23, 1861. 

To the Hon. Secretary or War : 

The Medical Bureau of the United States 

Army having asked for the appointment of 

a Sanitary Commission, in aid of its own 

overtasked energies, the Committee of the 

New York Delegation to the Government on 

Sanitary Affairs beg leave, at the request of 

the Medical Bureau, and as explanatory of its 

wishes, to state what precise powers are sought 

by the proposed Commission, and what specific 

objects are aimed at. 

POWERS. 

1. The Commission being organized for the 
purposes only of inquiry and advice, asks for 
no legal powers, but only the official recog- 
nition and moral countenance of the Govern- 
ment, which will be secured by its public ap- 
pointment. It asks for a recommendatory order, 
addressed in its favor to all officers of the Gov- 
ernment, to further its inquiries ; for permission 
to correspond and confer, on a confidential 
footing, with the Medical Bureau and the War 
Department, proffering such suggestions and 
counsel as its investigations and studies may, 
from time to time, prompt and enable it to 
offer. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 13 

2. The Commission seeks no pecuniary re- 
muneration from the Government. Its motives 
being humane and patriotic, its labors will be 
its own reward. The assignment to them of 
a room in one of the public buildings, with sta- 
tionery and other necessary conveniences, would 
meet their expectations in this direction. 

3. The Commission asks leave to sit through 
the war, either in "Washington, or when and 
where it may find it most convenient and useful; 
but it will disband should experience render its 
operations embarrassing to the Government, or 
less necessary and useful than it is now sup- 
posed they will prove. 

OBJECTS. 

The general object of the Commission is, 
through suggestions reported from time to time 
to the Medical Bureau and the War Depart- 
ment, to bring to bear upon the health, com- 
fort, and morale of our troops, the fullest and 
ripest teachings of Sanitary Science in its ap- 
plication to military life, whether deduced from 
theory or practical observation, from general 
hygienic principles, or from the experience of 
the Crimean, the East Indian, and the Italian 
wars. Its objects are purely advisory. 

The specific points to which its attention 
would be directed may here be partly indicated, 
but in some part must depend upon the course 
of events, and the results of its own observa- 



14 THE UNITED STATES 

tions and promptings, when fairly at work. If 
it knew precisely what the results of its own 
inquiries would be, it would state them at once, 
without asking for that authority and those 
governmental facilities essential to a successful 
investigation of the subject. As the Govern- 
ment may select its own Commissioners, — • the 
persons named in the recommendation of the 
Medical Bureau being wholly undesirous, how- 
ever willing, to serve, if other persons more de- 
serving of the confidence of the Government and 
of the public can be nominated, — it is hoped 
that the character of the Commission will be 
the best warrant the Government can have that 
the inquiries of the Commission, both as to 
their nature and the manner of conducting 
them, will be pursued with discretion and a 
careful eye to avoiding impertinent and offen- 
sive interference with the legal authority and 
official rights of any of the bureaus with which 
it may be brought in contact. 

SPECIFICATIONS. 
I. Materiel. — II. Prevention. — III. Relief. 

I. Materiel of the Volunteers. — The Commis- 
sion proposes a practical inquiry into the mate- 
riel of the Volunteer Force, with reference to the 
laws and usages of the several States in the 
matter of Inspection, with the hope of assimi- 
lating their regulations with those of the Army 
proper, alike in the appointment of medical and 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 15 

other officers and in the rigorous application of 
just rules and principles to recruiting and in- 
spection laws. This inquiry would exhaust 
every topic appertaining to the original materiel 
of the army, considered as a subject of sanitary 
and medical care. 

II. Prevention. — The Commission would in- 
quire with scientific thoroughness into the sub- 
ject of Diet, Cooking, Cooks, Clothing, Tents, 
Camping Grounds, Transports, Transitory De- 
pots, with their exposures, Camp Police, with 
reference to settling the question. How far the 
regulations of the Army proper are or can be 
practically carried out among the Volunteer 
Regiments, and what changes or modifications 
are desirable from their peculiar character and 
circumstances ? Everything appertaining to out- 
fit, cleanliness, precautions against damp, cold, 
heat, malaria, infection ; crude, unvaried, or ill- 
cooked food, and an irregular or careless regi- 
mental commissariat, would fall under this head. 

III. Relief. — The Commission would inquire 
into the organization of Military Hospitals, gen- 
eral and regimental ; the precise regulations and 
routine through which the services of the patri- 
otic women of the country may be made avail- 
able as nurses ; the nature and sufficiency of 
Hospital supplies ; the method of obtaining and 
regulating all other extra and unbought supplies 
contributing to the comfort of the sick ; the ques- 
tion of ambulances and field service, and of extra 



16 THE UNITED STATES 

medical aid ; and whatever else relates to the 
care, relief, or cure of the sick and wounded — 
their investigations being guided by the highest 
and latest medical and military experience, and 
carefully adapted to the nature and wants of our 
immediate army, and its peculiar origin and cir- 
cumstances.* 

Very respectfully submitted, in behalf of the 
New York delegation. 

Henry W. Bellows, Chairman, 

William H. Van Buren, M. D. 

Jacob Harsen, M. D. 

Elisha Harris, M. D. 



sanitary commission ordered by the secretary 
OF war, and approved by the president. 

( War Department, 
I Washington^ June 9, 1861. 

The Secretary of War has learned with great 
satisfaction that, at the instance and in pursu- 
ance of the suggestion of the Medical Bureau, 
in a communication to this office, dated May 
22, 1861, Henry W. Bellows, D. D., Prof. A. D. 
Bache, LL. D., Prof. Jeffries Wyman, M. D., 
Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, M. D., W. H. Van Buren, 
M. D., Samuel G. Howe, M. D., R. C. Wood, 
Surgeon U. S. A., G. W. Cullum, U. S. A., 

* Looking back on these proposals, a feeling of wonder 
fills the mind that they could at that moment of inexperience 
have been formed to embrace nearly all that has since proved 
essential. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 17 

Alexander E. Shiras, U. S. A., have mostly 
consented, in connection with such others as 
they may choose to associate with them, to act 
as " A Commission of Inquiry and Advice in 
respect of the Sanitary Interests of the United 
States Forces," and without remuneration from 
the Government. The Secretary has submitted 
their patriotic proposal to the consideration of 
the President, who directs the acceptance of the 
services thus generously offered. 

The Commission, in connection with a Sur- 
geon of the U. S. A. to be designated by the 
Secretary, will direct its inquiries to the princi- 
ples and practices connected with the inspection 
of recruits and enlisted men ; the sanitary con- 
dition of the volunteers; to the means of pre- 
serving and restoring the health, and of securing 
the general comfort and efficiency of troops ; to 
the proper provision of cooks, nurses, and hos- 
pitals ; and to other subjects of like nature. 

The Commission will frame such rules and 
regulations, in respect of the objects and modes 
of its inquiry, as may seem best adapted to the 
purpose of its constitution, which, when ap- 
proved by the Secretary, will be established as 
general guides of its investigations and action. 

A room with necessary conveniences will be 
provided in the City of Washington for the use 
of the Commission, and the members will meet 
when and at such places as may be convenient 
to them for consultation, and for the determina- 



18 TJIE UNITED STATES 

tion of such questions as may come properly be- 
fore the Commission. 

Tn the progress of its inquiries, the Commis- 
sion will correspond freely with the Department 
and with the Medical Bureau, and will commu- 
nicate to each, from time to time, such observa- 
tions and results as it may deem expedient and 
important. 

The Commission will exist until the Secretary 
of War shall otherwise direct, unless sooner dis- 
solved by its own action. 

SIMON CAMERON, 

Secretary of War. 

I approve the above. A. LINCOLN. 

June 13, 1861. 

All this was the result of the forces of patriot- 
ism and human love, which began to bear with 
strength upon the Government. For not only 
did the nation, in its merciful and patriotic in- 
stincts, need the Commission as its guide and 
means, but the Government needed the Com- 
mission to protect them against the vast tide of 
home-feelings, and the ardor of a people pour- 
ing down upon them in indiscriminate benevo- 
lence, and clogging the machinery, already too 
limited, through which alone the real good to 
the soldier could be applied. They needed, even 
if they did not wish, something to eke out and 
supplement the established system. It was 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 19 

small enough, to be sure, for it was a system 
made for a few thousand men, suddenly called 
on to provide for the wants of an army of sev- 
eral hundred thousand ; but at least it was the 
organized nucleus of something larger. The 
Commission came in, with offers of obedience, 
to su])plement and aid, by an organization run- 
ing side by side with the military system in the 
difficult work before it. 

And here it is important to understand the 
precise attitude assumed by the Government 
towards the Sanitary Commission at its incep- 
tion. The Government, while to a certain ex- 
tent aware of the necessities that might soon 
arise in the Medical Department, had what 
seemed so much more pressing demands upon 
their attention that they could not give very 
earnest heed to the suggestions which Dr. Bel- 
lows urged with piteous reiteration upon them. 
They saw the country heaving with sensibility 
to the probable wants of the sick and wounded, 
before any such existed. It seemed to them an 
idle forethought to make this great ado about a 
class which might never exist in any great pro- 
portion. The honest truth doubtless is this : 
that they supposed the sensibilities of women 
and clergymen and humane physicians had 
finally culminated in a sentimental scheme 
which had little solid foundation in practical 
sense and efficiency, and that they regarded the 
proposed Sanitary Commission with only as 



20 THE UNITED STATES 

much interest as the pertinacity and respecta- 
bility of its advocates compelled them to give 
to it. They did not understand the character 
of the men who were urging the plan upon 
them ; far less did they comprehend that these 
men were prompted by the irresistible voice of 
the people ; and thus they were excusable for 
suspecting that the scheme was a soft-hearted 
invention which would very poorly sustain the 
hard knocks which every accessory of war must 
be fitted to endure. 

The Government frankly told the projector of 
the Sanitary Commission their doubts and mis- 
givings as to the feasibleness of his plan : the 
President feared it might be " the fifth wheel of 
the coach," not only needless but embarrassing 
to the indispensable running gear; the Secre- 
tary of War very slowly and reluctantly gave up 
his objections ; the Medical Bureau, won over to 
the plan only by the most gentle and cautious 
approaches, at length yielded their consent, and 
made application for the appointment of the 
Commission.* Even then a change in the head 
of the Medical Bureau perilled the ground thus 
laboriously gained; for the new Surgeon-General, 
Dr. Finlay, signified his consent with an ex- 
pression of his total opposition to the plan, and 

* This was due to the efforts of Dr. Van Buren, whose 
guiding wisdom in the rise and progress of the Sanitary 
Commission has been one of the chief sources of its strength 
and power. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 21 

merely from unwillingness to interpose himself 
against what was evidently becoming a power- 
ful popular opinion in favor of the scheme. 

These objections were all natural, honest, and 
even sagacious : nor has the Commission ever 
com})lained that it encountered them. In ninety- 
nine cases out of a hundred they would have 
been well-founded. But the course of the Com- 
mission has shown — what no foresight could 
have established — that the objections made to 
it were unfounded and needless. It is, however, 
due both to the Commission and to the People 
who created it, that the obstinate difficulties 
under which it came into existence should be 
known ; and it must be added that it was treated 
for the first few months of that existence with 
jealous coldness on the part of the Government 
— a coldness gradually melting away as experi- 
ence taught the various Bureaux to confide in it. 

In all its intercourse with the Government the 
Commission has studied the strictest subordina- 
tion, asked the fewest possible favors, conferred 
the largest assistance in its power, and claimed 
the least possible recognition of its services. 
"Whilst the Government, whatever their actual 
sense of its labors may be, have seldom shown 
any sense of obligation to the Commission, yet 
it must be said that, from their various subordi- 
nates, it has received favors too numerous to 
detail, whilst the actual obstacles to its labors 
nave been few indeed. 



22 THE UNITED STATES 

The best witness — the only competent judge 
of the Sanitary Commission — is the Army itself 
The Generals recognize and facilitate its plans 
and movements from their own deep acquaint- 
ance with its work and their personal conviction 
of its importance ; whilst the other officers, med- 
ical and military, strengthen it from~a yet clcser 
experience of its benefits. The real triumph of 
the Commission has been a triumph over the 
medical and military prejudices of the Army; 
and these have yielded, and yielded wholly, to 
the actual experience they have had of the 
beneficence and indispensableness of its work. 

It was soon found necessary, for the practical 
working of the Commission, to add five other 
members to those already appointed ; and these 
were again increased at a later period until the 
number of its members is now twenty-one. Their 
names are as follows : — 

H. W. Bellows, D. D., President^ — A. D. 
Bache, LL. D., Vice-President^ — G. W. Cul- 
LUM, U. S. A., — R. C. Wood, M. D., U. S. A., 
W. H. Van Buren, M. D., — Wolcott Gibbs, 
M. D., — S. G. Howe, M. D., — C. R. Agnew, 
M. D.,— Elisha Harris, M. D.,-^ George T. 
Strong, Esq., — Horace Binney, Jr., Esq., — 
Rt. Rev. T. M. Clark, D D., — Hon. Joseph 
Holt, — Hon. R. W. Burnett, — Hon. Mark 
Skinner, — Rev. John H Heywood, — Prof. 
Fairman Rogers, — J. Huntington Wolcott, 
Esq., — ' Fred. Law Olmsted Esq., — J. S. New 
berry, M. D., — A. E. Shiras, U. S. A. 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 23 

The Commission, being thus organized, fell at 
once to work, and before twenty-fom- hours had 
passed was involved in the leading practical 
questions of the business before it, — the Execu- 
ti\^e Committee meeting daily as it has con- 
tinued to do from that time to the present day. 
On this Committee we may be suffered to pause 
for a moment. If others in the Commission are 
known in this story by their deeds, these men, 
who are the spirit that inspires and the mind 
that guides the whole, should be known by their 
character and attainments. 

It has been shown how the inception and ex- 
istence of the Sanitary Commission are due to 
Dr. Bellows ; but his labors for it have not ended 
here. To it he has given the experience of a 
thoughtful life and the best hours of every day 
and night since it came into existence, — strength- 
ening it with his power, and inspiring it w^ith his 
enthusiasm. 

Of Dr. Van Buren, whose eminent profes- 
sional attainments have carried, with weight and 
conviction, the advice of the Commission to the 
Medical Bureau, it is not too much to say that 
the war in its medical history owes more to him 
of what is sound, progressive, and humane than 
to any other physician in the country : — while to 
Dr. Agnew, his colleague in the work, the Com- 
mission owes in a high degree, through his ear- 
nest and powerful administrative qualities, the 
practical and successful application of the wis- 



24 THE UNITED STATES 

dorp of his friend. The attainments of the Com 
mission in all matters of a scientific nature are 
due to its good fortune in having as active workers 
two men of the highest scientific character, — Prof. 
A. D. Bache and Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, — who 
have maintained a steady and practical supervis- 
ion over all questions and affairs of this nature. 

To its Treasurer, Mr. George T. Strong, the 
Commission owes a debt of gratitude which it is 
difficult to express in words. With the burden 
of much responsibility upon him of a private and 
public nature, he has yet found time and strength 
to give himself, with ceaseless industry and judg- 
ment, to the financial business of the Commis- 
sion, which has been wholly conducted by him. 

The last who shall be named here is one who 
is no longer in the active service of the Com- 
mission, but who was until recently its General 
Secretary, — Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted. He 
has left the work, called elsewhere by a duty 
which he could not disregard. The Sanitary 
Commission, owing its conception and life to 
others, owes in a chief degree its moulding and 
its practical success to him. He has gone from 
it, but his spirit within it will never die nor fail. 
He will return, for the country needs him. A 
man like him belongs before all else to the gen- 
eration in which he is born. We want men of 
height and breadth and purity, and a Nation's 
wants produce their own fulfilment. He will re- 
turn : meantime, wherever he is, God bless him. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 25 

In his place has been elected Dr. J. Foster 
Jenkins, long actively engaged as Associate 
Secretary of the Commission ; and it is enough 
to say that no appointment to that place could 
have given more sincere satisfaction.* 

The Commission, as we have said, went at 
once to work. Almost its first act was to 
solicit the cooperation of Associate Members 
throughout the country. They were asked to 
obtain for the Commission the means required 
to carry out its object ; to inform the public 
fully (through the press and otherwise) of the 
existence and design of the Commission, and 
of the great and pressing danger which it was 
intended to avert; to promote the establishment 
of auxiliary associations ; and so to direct the 
labors of associations already formed, that they 
might strengthen and support those of the Com- 
mission. 

At the present moment there are more than 
five hundred Associate Members. 

Of the multiplied subjects which first claimed 
the attention of the Commission, no record can 
be given here ; but it should be told how the 
suggestion was made that it ought to look to 
the Government for the money it required, rather 
than to private liberality. The question was fully 
and deeply considered, and the conclusion was 
reached that it was inexpedient to appear before 
Congress as an applicant for pecuniary aid. 
* See Appendix A. 



26 THE UNITED STATES 

The Commission had little or no official power, 
and could accomplish its objects only through 
whatever moral weight and influence it might 
possess. These would have been impaired, if 
not destroyed, in public estimation at least, were 
it to appear among the crowds which fill the lob- 
bies of Congress. The mere suspicion that it was 
connected with political agencies would para- 
lyze its usefulness. On this and other grounds, 
the Commission determined to rely for support 
on the community at large, and time has shown 
its wisdom in adopting that course.* 

On the question of supplies, there could be 
no anxiety. Already, from the distant coun- 
try villages, as from the cities and towns, they 
were flowing in. The Commission went forward 
to its first inquiries after need and suffering, 
backed by ample means to relieve them. The 
distribution of stores, clothes, bedding, etc., be- 
came at once a recognized function ; and so, 
finding its way intelligently into every avenue 
of succor, the People's Commission went on. 



DEPAETMExNT OF INSPECTION. 

The order of the Secretary of War, by which 
the Sanitary Commission was appointed, in- 
vested it with the power of " inquiry and advice 
in respect to the Sanitary interests of the United 
States forces," — and specially directed it to 
* See Appendix B. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 2l 

*' inquire into the principles and practices con- 
nected with the inspection of recruits and en- 
listed men ; into the sanitary condition of the 
volunteers ; into the means of preserving and 
restoring the health and securing the general 
comfort and efficiency of troops ; into the proper 
provision of cooks, nurses, and hospitals ; and 
into other subjects of a like nature." That a 
permission of this kind should have been given, 
inviting instruction and advice at the very com- 
mencement of the war, — not delaying until deci- 
mating evil and the anger of a people demanded 
it, — is one of those facts by which we judge the 
character of our nation ; and as a people we 
may be grateful to the men who were wise 
enough to grant it. 

If we think of the condition of the Arm.y at 
that moment, we shall see at once the enormous 
value of the advice of the Commission, com- 
posed as it was of men who were all more or 
less experts in the work in which they were 
engaged. The Medical Bureau, organized with 
reference to the wants of an army of only a few 
thousand men, was likely to be seriously embar- 
rassed in its operations, when called on to pro- 
vide for a newly levied force of several hundred 
thousand ; especially as both officers and men 
of the new levies were mostly without experi- 
ence, and required immediate and extraordinary 
instructions and supervision to save them from 
the consequences of exposure, malaria, unwhole- 



28 THE UNITED STATES 

some food, and other perils of camp-life. What 
could these men, just from their home-life, know 
of this aspect of war ? — they did not even know 
their own ignorance. War to them was battle 
and the art of it. Precautions for health ; pre- 
ventions of disease ; the bodily well-being of the 
troops, — all that makes the enduring strength 
of an army, — scarcely entered, if it entered at 
all, their eager minds. The Sanitary Com- 
mission, by a gracious permission, was to teach 
them. Who shall say where the results of this 
teaching ended, or shall end ? 

The first step of the Commission was to sur- 
vey its ground. The President, with another 
member, at once undertook a preliminary exam- 
ination into the condition of the troops assem- 
bling at Cleveland, Alton, Cairo, St. Louis, Cin- 
cinnati, and other military centres in the West. 
A like preliminary examination was made, by 
other members of the Commission, into the state 
of the troops on the Potomac and at Fortress 
Monroe. Full reports of the results thus ascer- 
tained showed that the dangers of the Army from 
ignorance and neglect of sanitary precautions 
were in no degree exaggerated, and that a vast 
field of work was before the Commission. That 
work was twofold : 1st, Inquiry into the san- 
itary condition of the army ; 2d, Advice as to 
its improvement. This latter function included, 
not only the duty of addressing to the Govern- 
ment, from time to time, such recommendations 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 29 

or suggestions as occasions and facts might sug- 
gest, but also that of keeping the volunteer offi- 
cers, and the soldiers themselves, constantly and 
directly instructed and warned of the novel dan- 
gers to which they were exposed, of the neces- 
sary precautions against them, and of the means 
pointed out by experience as best calculated to 
preserve them in bodily health and vigor for the 
performance of their duty to their country. 

It was obviously necessary to put experts upon 
the duty of inspection and inquiry, and for this 
purpose the Commission hastened to secure the 
services of a body of physicians specially fitted 
for this duty, and to send them into the field at 
various points, from Fortress Monroe to St. 
Louis. It was not easy to find at once a suffi- 
cient number of gentlemen of the requisite qual- 
ifications. It was indispensable that they should 
possess, not only scientific qualifications and a 
special acquaintance with sanitary laws, but 
sufficient tact to perform their duties as agents 
of an organization till then unknown to Army 
Regulations, without awakening jealousy of 
their interference as officious or seemingly intru- 
sive. It was also necessary, in view of the fact 
that the Commission could afford to pay but 
moderate compensation to its employes, that 
they should be men actuated by a strong and 
disinterested desire to be of service to the coun- 
try. Such men, however, were found ; and it is 
proper to record the fact that in several instances 



so THE UNITED STATES 

they withdrew from positions far more remu- 
nerative, undertaking their new duties from mo- 
tives of the highest benevolence and patriotism. 
Some have declined the office of Brigade Sur- 
geon, tendered to them by the War Department, 
to enter on what they considered a wider field 
of usefulness in the service of the Commission. 
No one is now employed on this service who is 
not entitled by education, experience, and social 
standing to speak with some degree of moral 
authority ; and whatever success the Commission 
may have obtained in the execution of its duties 
is believed to be due as much to the high char- 
acter and intelligence of its Inspectors, as to any 
of the other advantages it has enjoyed. 

The duties of the Inspectors, beyond what is 
necessarily trusted to their discretion, are mi- 
nutely detailed in the printed instructions which 
are issued to them. They are enjoined carefully 
to avoid whatever can excite apprehension of a 
disposition to interfere with military authority. 
Before entering any camp, they are required to 
obtain the formal approval of the Major General, 
the Brigadier General, and the Medical Director, 
in whose military jurisdiction the camp is in- 
cluded; together with an introduction to the 
commanding officer of the regiment, and through 
him to the company officers. Having done this, 
they are required to make a minute investigation 
into every point bearing directly or indirectly on 
the sanitary condition of the camp. Among 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 31 

the subjects on which they are required to make 
written detailed reports are the quality of ra- 
tions and water, the methods of camp-cooking, 
the ventilation of tents and quarters, the drain- 
age of the camp itself, the healthfulness of its 
site, the administration of the hospital, the police 
of the camp, and all which that word includes ; 
the quality of the tents, and the material used for 
flooring them ; the quality of the clothing and 
the personal cleanliness of the men, &c., &c. 
Whatever deficiencies or evils they find to exist, 
by which the health, morale^ or efficiency of the 
men may be endangered, they are instructed to 
indicate to the proper officers ; at the same time 
offering advice, if it is needed, as to the best 
method of remedying them. Very few camps 
have been visited in which important improve- 
ments have not been ordered by the proper offi- 
cers, at the suggestion and in the presence of the 
Inspector. 

The influence, however, which officers uncon- 
sciously receive, through the mere direction of 
their attention to unknown or neglected duties, 
by the inquiries which the Inspectors necessarily 
address to them, constitutes one great value 
of the services of the Commission. The briga- 
dier or colonel, who is asked whether military 
or sanitary considerations determined the selec- 
tion of his camp-site, will not be likely, when 
next he chooses a camping-ground, to plant it, 
unless a military exigency so require, on the lee- 



32 THE UNITED STATES 

ward side of a swamp or in a damp wood. The 
major, who is asked if the drains about the tents 
and through the camp are wide and deep and 
straight, and kept free from rubbish, will get an 
idea, if he never had one before, as to the impor- 
tance of drainage. When the company cap- 
tains are asked if they, or any of their subordi- 
nate officers, look after the ventilation of the 
tents at night, if they are struck at short inter- 
vals, for the thorough cleansing of both the can- 
vas and the site, they are made to feel that these 
things are important ; and when subaltern offi- 
cers and privates see careful inquiry made as to 
their habits of personal cleanliness, and the clean- 
liness of their camps, regarding the water they 
drink, and the character and cooking of their 
food, concerning the sufficiency of their clothing 
and bedding, and the healthful conditions of their 
rest, they are incited to attend themselves to what 
seems to give so much concern to others, and 
henceforward can hardly fail to think more of 
the influences affecting health. All this, of 
course, cannot be specified, recorded, and pre- 
sented under the head of facts ; but it is to be 
dwelt on thoughtfully. 

As every regiment brought to a high sanitary 
condition is found to be a radiating centre of 
good influences, it was thought that the labors 
of the Inspectors (their number being necessarily 
far too small) would be most effectively and 
economically applied, by making as thorough 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 33 

work as practicable in the inspection of each 
regiment visited, and in securing the efficient co- 
operation of its officers, rather than in superficial 
examination and hurried efforts for the benefit 
of a larger number. It must be said emphat- 
ically, and in justice to our volunteer officers, 
that the Inspectors of the Commission have sel- 
dom had occasion to complain in any way of 
the want of prompt, cordial, and intelligent co- 
operation on their parts. This was due partly 
to their honest sense of the real service rendered 
to them, and partly to that obedience to the 
spirit of the Commission's pledge of non-interfer- 
ence with the military service, which the wisdom 
of the General Secretary kept, by precept and 
example, before the mind of its employes. 

Through its Inspectors the Commission has 
distributed gratuitously to the surgeons and 
officers of regiments eighteen concise treatises 
on the best means for preserving health in camp, 
and on the treatment of the sick and wounded 
in camp and on the battle-field. They were each 
prepared by a committee of gentlemen selected 
from the best medical talent of the country, with 
special reference to their peculiar acquaintance 
with the special subject intrusted to them. As 
the surgeons of the Volunteer Army are drawn 
almost wholly from civil practice, and as no 
books, nor even circulars of instruction in regard 
to their novel responsibilities were issued to them 
by Government, these medical monographs, al- 



34 THE UNITED STATES 

though very modest in form, were found to con- 
tain an amount of information of such practical 
value that there is scarcely a surgeon in the 
Army who has not sent to the Commission to 
ask for fresh copies, when the casualties of war 
have caused the loss of those he had.* 

After the inspection of a camp or post, the 
Inspector is required to make an elaborate re- 
port upon its condition. This report consists 
partly of written answers to printed questions, 
one hundred and eighty in number, covering 
every important point connected with the san- 
itary condition of the Army. These printed 
questions are used to secure information on es- 
sential points, but all personal observations are 
specially encouraged. More than one thousand 
four hundred and seventy of these reports have 
been received by the Commission. They are the 
guides to the advice offered by the Commission 
itself to the Heads of Departments. They are 
afterwards carefully tabulated, and suitable di- 
gests prepared by an accomplished actuary. It 
is much to be desired that, for the sake of the 
future, and in the cause of humanity, the Com- 
mission may be enabled to continue this work, 
and thus eventually to lay before the country a 
body of military medical statistics, more com- 
plete, searching, and trustworthy than any now 
in existence. 

It will be seen that the primary business of 

* See Appendix C. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 35 

Inspectors was not to take care of the sick and 
wounded, — that was the business of a force of 
men specially assigned to it, — but to keep the 
Commission in its central offices informed of 
the sanitary condition of the Army, and to ad- 
vise it of excessive wants, excessive neglects, 
frauds, &c., affecting the sick and wounded. 
For the punctual and exact performance of this 
duty of the Inspectors, the Secretaries were held 
accountable to the Commission ; as, for the duty 
based upon it, the Commission itself is primarily 
accountable to the President. This measure of 
the duty was fulfilled without breaking its unity, 
until the great services in the field, commencing 
in 1862. swept even the Inspectors away from 
their special responsibility into the work of act- 
ual succor and relief, — not, however, at any time 
arresting the work. The Commission is now 
about to bring back the Inspectors to their 
proper duties, and to keep them to the impor- 
tant and responsible work for which men of 
their acquirements were engaged. In the past 
they have taught the Commission what were 
the needs of an army in its infancy ; it now be- 
comes their duty to teach it the lessons that the 
Army should learn from a three years' experi- 
ence, and thus step by step to rise to results 
which will be of immense benefit to the coun- 
try should the war be prolonged. 

There is no doubt that the public sympathy 
is not greatly enlisted in this department, but 



3C) THE UNITED STATES 

out of it corner the very strength of the work 
of relief and mercy, — enlightenment, — through 
which alone a practical, economical, and thor 
ough use of the gifts of the people can be reached. 
Some definite results of this work in the shape 
of facts may be asked for. Many of these 
(and the most practical) will appear in the 
course of the narrative. Only one of them will 
be mentioned here. 

The statistics of the British forces during the 
war against Russia show the following rates of 
mortality : — 

On the arrival of the army in Turkey, (April, 
1854,) to the embarkation for the Crimea, (Sep- 
tember, 1854,) the annual death-rate was 129 
per 1000 men. In July, August, and Septem- 
ber, it was increased to 293 per 1000 men ; for 
the next three months to 511 per 1000 men ; and 
it culminated in January, 1855, when it reached 
the fearful amount of 1174 per 1000 men.* In 
other words, at this rate it would be necessary, 
in order to supply the loss occasioned by death 
alone, to replace the dead army by a new army 
of equal strength in about ten (10|) months. 
Then it was that the British Government estab- 
lished sanitary operations, and so soon as their 
influence began to be felt, (in April, May, and 
June, 1855,) the rate of mortality fell to 250 per 
1000 men, and from that time gradually and 
rapidly diminished, until the annual death-rate 
* Of which 97 per cent, was from disease. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 37 

for January, 1856, (one year from its culmina- 
tion,) was 25 per 1000 men. 

The mortality of the United States forces dur- 
ing the present war (exclusive of three-months 
men) is being tabulated by the Sanitary Com- 
mission from the records in the Adjutant-Gen- 
eral's office. These tables show that from the 
commencement of the war to the latest time 
when they could be made, the annual death-rate 
of our forces has been 65 per 1000 men. From 
June 1st, 1861, to March, 1862, a period when 
our army lay comparatively inactive, we find 
the annual death-rate was 44| per 1000 men. 
During the campaign on the Peninsula, when 
the effects of climate were to the full as deadly, 
if not more so, than those of the Crimea, when 
every breath drew in swamp poison, and our 
men advanced by forced marches through Vir- 
ginia mire, and camped along the banks of 
malarious watercourses, the annual death-rate 
was 165 per 1000 men. To what was this 
owing ? Not to the fact that our troops bring 
a greater amount of health into the service than 
those of other armies, for their mortality during 
the period of inaction was much greater than 
that of the British army during a like period.* 
It was owing in part, undoubtedly, to lessons 
learnt from the Russian war, and to the Amer- 

* This is owing largely to the careless inspection of re- 
cruits, a subject to which the Sanitary Commission has never 
ceased to call the attention of the Government. 



38 THE UNITED STATES 

ican spirit of improvement, which has made our 
armies, let who will say to the contrary, a splen- 
did spectacle of progress in many points of 
efficiency. But was it not in a chief degree 
owing to the Sanitary Commission ? Has not 
the Sanitary Commission a right to point to 
that result, and say, " It is mine ? " 

A branch of Special Inspection was estab- 
lished by the Commission for a limited period 
of time, in September, 1862, to examine into 
the condition and wants of Army General 
Hospitals throughout the country. While the 
strength of the army had been nearly doubled, 
and the population in General Hospitals quad- 
rupled, the Staff of Medical Inspection had not 
been increased. Under these circumstances, the 
Commission resolved to seek among the best 
and ablest members of the medical profession 
the services, for short periods, of men ready to 
help the national cause and the cause of hu- 
manity, by undertaking a course of Hospital 
Inspection. 

An efficient corps of such Inspectors was 
organized under Dr. Henry G. Clark, of Boston, 
Inspector-in- Chief. The approval and author- 
ization of the Surgeon-General were accorded 
to them, and their duty at once commenced; 
its distinct object being to secure to sick and 
wounded soldiers thorough and able hospital 
treatment, by the detection of all defects in 
administration or professional care susceptible 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 39 

of remedy or improvement. When the list of 
these Inspectors is read, showing names which 
command the highest respect in many large 
communities, and the fact is told that their 
suggestions with regard to defects and evils 
found to be existing in Army Hospitals have, 
when transmitted to the Surgeon-General, inva- 
riahly received his immediate and effective atten- 
tion, nothing more need be said upon this branch 
of the subject.* 

The reports of all Inspectors are taken into 
the office of Statistics, presided over by an 
actuary of great attainments, Mr. E. B. Elliott. 
There they are recorded and tabulated : first, in 
what is called the " Abstract of Camp Inspec- 
tion, classified by States " ; secondly, in a more 
condensed table or abstract of the leading points 
about each regiment inspected. 

With this current work much else is carried 
on. Data are being collected, and abstracts 
made from the rolls of the Adjutant-General's 
office, relating to certain points in the condition 
of the troops, out of which abstracts vast in- 
struction for the future is derived. Of these 
rolls, 10,000 have been already examined, cov- 
ering at least 900 regiments and 750,000 men. 
The enormous amount of labor necessary for 
this work cannot be comprehended by a mind 
not trained to such details. 

Returns to this office from the Inspectors 
* See Appendix D. 



40 THE UNITED STATES 

travelling with armies on the march, are also 
made, and there tabulated, showing the effect 
on men of long and continuous marches, &c., 
&c., and the influence of these causes on the 
health and endurance of the troops. Returns 
are also recorded and tabulated on wounds and 
injuries received in battle. 

A Department of Vital Statistics has been 
commenced, which is yet in its infancy, but 
which has within its scope the prospect of re- 
sults greater than any yet attained. And last, 
but not least in present results, is a series of dia- 
grams prepared from the rolls of the Adjutant- 
General's office, showing the constant rates of 
mortality and sickness, with various particulars, 
throughout the army and in special portions 
of it. 

All this work is of untold value, not only 
now, but to future ages ; and if the Sanitary 
Commission had not promptly undertaken it, 
its practical results would have been greatly 
delayed ; for the records in the government 
offices, owing to want of time and adequate 
clerks, are either not tabulated at all, or so 
slowly as to cause despair of their appearing 
in time to be useful to this generation. 

Let us trust that the work may be enabled 
to go on to its end, so that the Sanitary Com- 
mission may give to future eras of suffering 
the experience and warnings of the present. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 41 



THE BRANCHES.— SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 

At the moment when the Sanitary Commis- 
sion acquired its functions from Government, 
its relation to the women's work throughout 
the land changed, with the plastic ease which 
marks the change into things better and truer, 
especially in moments of trial. No longer a 
mere commission of inquiry, for the purposes 
of the Woman's Relief Societies, it became 
the head, the strength, the teacher, the central 
means through which the work of the women 
was to flow. And here it may be said that no- 
where is the true relation of men and women 
to each other better worked out than in the 
service of the Sanitary Commission. And it 
may also be said that never before in the history 
of the world have women had such an oppor- 
tunity to use themselves for a great purpose. 
In England, those women who, with Florence 
Nightingale, did their work in the Crimea, 
showed a courage in taking the initial step 
to which we can lay no claim. Our turn to 
take up the work came after the world had 
applauded it. They did not know whether they 
went to honor or to dishonor ; — enough that 
they went to avert suffering. But they had no 
such opportunity as ours. They had no na- 
tional channel through which every woman in 
the land could feel that she might work wnth 
the Government itself, and reach the very spot 



42 THE UNITED STATES 

of need. Theirs was no national cause, in 
which the women were to rise as the men ; and 
as the men went to their work in the national 
army, so the women were to go with them, in 
an organization running side by side with the 
army, — knowing its needs and meeting them, 
— yet all the while at home^ in quietness nursing 
thoughts of those in the field, whilst their busy 
hands pom-ed into the thousand channels sup- 
plies of relief and love. Supplies which, meet- 
ing in one great centre, were to take a wider 
flow, and, by instructed and authorized means, 
were to reach and relieve suffering wherever a 
regiment or company of soldiers could be found. 

But all this had to be learnt ; perhaps it is 
not wholly learnt yet. And the first step of the 
Woman's Central Association of Relief was 
to establish relations with other women, and so 
to learn and teach how to make the best of the 
opportunity given to them. Happily, women 
were found, in every part of the country, who 
comprehended at once the great principle of 
union and national working together, which 
is the foundation of the Sanitary Commission; 
and many who did not see it at once, soon came 
to it out of their very needs. 

Preliminary steps were rapidly taken, and the 
tide of unorganized effort began to set into the 
great channel. Boxes, cases, packages, which 
before had gone independently, and often fruit- 
lessly, on their tender and patriotic mission, and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 43 

which, if not wholly wasted, fell far short of 
the generous good intended, now poured into the 
Central Depot, and went forward from there to 
the spot where the need of them was ascer- 
tained. From a variety of testimony which is 
overwhelming, the fact is known that the waste 
of the first unorganized work for the needs of 
the Army is scarcely to be estimated. But be- 
yond the evil of the waste of goods was the 
waste of jiving energy and power ; and far 
beyond that, again, was the spirit which began 
to spring up, innocently God knows, yet lead- 
ing to that evil which has brought us to dis- 
union and the rupture of our country, — the 
spirit of " our section," " our State," " our regi- 
ment." This spirit grew up in the commence- 
ment because no higher spirit was obvious. 
Boxes, love-freighted, were sent to " our regi- 
ment," because that was the only spot to which 
we knew how to send. No wilfully sectional 
motive had influence ; it was simply ignorance 
of other methods which produced the sectional 
result. To be sure, love of friends and the sat- 
isfaction of knowing from them that the boxes 
had arrived, led to much of this unorganized 
work, although its evil results were so grave 
that many were disposed to condemn it in a 
spirit of greater severity. 

Amongst these results, and setting aside 
the important question of waste, may be 
named that of the petty jealousies it was capa- 



44 THE UXITED STATES 

ble of fostering, and out of which, as we all 
know, comes emptiness of resalt. Not the 
great principle of Union, but rivakies among 
societies ; " our regiment 's better furnished than 
your regiment," answered by rivahies among 
the men themselves. " Our people love us bet- 
ter than your people, for look what they send! " 
or, perhaps, " Our people love us less than their 
people, for look what they send! " Ah! what is 
this but the germ of the principle which struck 
the blow at our country, and which, if carried 
out, would have paralyzed even the nationality 
of the loyal Army ? 

But the impression must not be given that 
the army, as a general thing, approved of this 
sectional method of aiding it. On the field, 
banded into one whole, fighting for the principle 
of Union, disunited and sectional bounty was 
against the grain of its daily feelings. The men 
themselves rebuked it ; and there are many in- 
stances in which when the kind face looked into 
barn or tent or ward, and the kind voice said, 
as the basketful of relief was opened, " Any 
boy here from the State of . . . . ? " that the 
men of that State kept silence ; — or, better 
still, they answered, " No ! only United States 
soldiers ! " 

But all this had to be learnt, and had to be 
taught. It was believed from the very start, by 
those who brought to this war a living faith in 
the people, that they needed only to see the 



SANITARY COMMTSSIOX. 45 

scheme of the Sanitary Commission in its great 
national relations and analogies, — only to have 
some proof that it would sustain its pledges, 
and be, as well as claim to be, the great effective 
channel of the people's love to the people's army, 
— to come to its support in loving ardor, and on 
the great principle for which husbands and sons 
were laying down their lives upon the battle- 
field. And this belief has been justified; if 
the people have not all come to the response 
expected, it is because the Commission has not 
had the time nor the means to teach its truths. 
Wherever its broad principles have been made 
known, wherever the proofs have been given of 
its actual work, the people have sprung to join 
it ; not, let us say, for itself or for its agents, — 
they are nothing, — but for the sake of its great 
principles, and for the vast opportunities which 
a wise Government has given to it. 

If the history which underlies all this could 
be given (and it never can be), what a record it 
would be of human nature ! Let us follow home 
the cases that come into one large branch from 
a thousand villages : the people that packed 
them never saw a wounded soldier ; they have 
no stimulants of excitement ; their individual ex- 
ertions are never known beyond their little vil- 
lage, and seem as nothing compared to the great 
whole. The people of cities give money with- 
out feeling it, but it is the farmers' wives and 
daughters who make the sacrifices; the mate- 



46 THE UNITED STATES 

rials are purchased by money earned by daily 
work; the time is taken out of the night's rest, 
and then, when the box is ready, they send it 
away to strangers, not knowing where it is to 
go, nor who it is that shall receive it. This is 
Faith, and it is human nature rising out of self 
— which is Christianity. Let us go into that 
house where a Soldiers' Aid Society is at work: 
it is in a little village in Connecticut, as neat as 
all New England villages are, but the people are 
very poor. As we examine a quilt which is on 
the frame, pieced out of an old dress, for ma- 
terials are their greatest difficulty, the mistress 
of the house (she is a widow) says, in the sim- 
plest way, with a glance at the windows, "You 
see our window-curtains have gone." Before 
the war those curtains were the pride and pleas- 
ure of that neat New England home. And shall 
one of us, — we who work in sight, we who w^ork 
with great results, we who take a pride in our 
faculties, and enjoyment in the use of them, — 
shall we dare to name our work in the same 
breath with the self-sacrifice of these women ? 
A Council of Representatives from the prin- 
cipal Aid Societies, from all parts of the loyal 
States, was held in Washington in November, 
1862 ; out of this grew the effort, still in progress, 
to reach a more thorough organization, on the 
part of each Branch of that part of the country 
from which its supplies were drawn. This effort 
has been strengthened, as it was found that from 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 47 

obvious causes the hospital supplies of the 
Commission were beginning to fall off. The 
plan for this effort which was proposed by the 
Boston Branch of the Commission proved to be 
by far the best, and it has been adopted by 
many, if not by all, the branches. The system, 
in brief, was to divide the field of each branch into 
such sections as convenience and the facilities of 
transportation pointed out; each section with an 
Associate Manager of the Branch resident with- 
in it. In this way close relations could be estab- 
lished with all auxiliaries ; truth could be broadly 
spread, and the country, in its remotest villages, 
could feel the impetus given by the central head. 
Through these Associate Managers it could 
be said to the people : — The work of the Com- 
mission invites the closest scrutiny. It is be- 
cause those who have investigated it most 
thoroughly — who have examined its books; 
followed its Inspectors into camp and hospital ; 
its relief agents on to the battle-field, and its 
supplies to the soldiers — are its most earnest 
supporters, that we wish to say to those who 
stay at home, and by their unwearied labor and 
patriotic zeal keep this great machinery in mo- 
tion : You cannot see what is going on, but 
you shall know all and everything. We want 
you to learn what we learn, and know what we 
know, and thus be able to determine fairly, for 
yourselves, whether the Commission is, or is not, 
worthy of your support and confidence. It is 



48 THE UNITED STATES 

truth that we would give you, — - truth that you 
shall have, if so be that you will take it. 

As a preliminary measure, and to open a more 
general correspondence, a circular letter was sent 
by some of the Branches to the Secretaries of 
all their auxiliary societies. This will be found 
in the Appendix (E) and will show the princi- 
ple on which the women's work throughout the 
country is being organized. 

To form this network of organized effort 
throughout the land, the Branches have gen- 
erally arranged to draw their supplies according 
to geographical limits ; — in other words, geog- 
raphy being now determined by steam, they 
are to draw them according to the lines of trans- 
portation by rivers and railroads. 

Brief mention of these Branches must be 
made here. In one sense they are indepen- 
dent of the Sanitary Commission, because they 
have a body of their own, laws and a system 
of their own ; but all for what ? — to pour, with 
power and economy, the vital strength into the 
central head and heart which guides them. 
The principle of their relation to the United 
States Sanitary Commission is best shown in 
the vote by which the first " Branch " came into 
existence. 

" Resolved — That the "Woman's Central As- 
sociation of Relief, at New York, is hereby, at its 
own generous instance, constituted an auxiliary 
branch of the Sanitary Commission, retaining 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 49 

full power to conduct its own affairs in all re- 
spects independently of the Commission; neither 
the Commission nor the Association being in 
any way responsible for any pecuniary liabilities 
or obligations, except such as are contracted or 
incurred by itself or its authorized agents. 

" Resolved — That the Corresponding Secre- 
tary of the Board communicate, in writing, 
semi-weekly, with the Woman's Central Asso- 
ciation of Relief, keeping it regularly informed 
of the wants of the Army, and the expectations 
of the Commission from that source of supply." 

The writer deeply regrets an inability to give, 
in this place, a proper sketch of several of the 
great Branches of the West ; it has not been pos- 
sible to obtain their reports,* and the reader must 
find them in their deeds as this narrative goes on : 
but the narrative also will be unsatisfactory and 
inadequate, and the reader must bear in mind 
that the Western Branches have been, from the 
first, in keeping with their western character for 
generosity and energy. 

Branch of the United States Sanitary Com- 
mission for Northern Ohio. — The call to arms 
was sounded on the 15th of April, 1861 ; on 
the 20th of April the Soldiers' Aid Society 
in Cleveland, Ohio, was formed; and it has 
the honor — the great and lasting honor — of 

* They were written for at the earliest moment, but have 
not been received. If possible, something upon the subject 
will be placed in Appendix F. 
4 



50 THE UNITED STATES 

being the first society of women that met and 
was organized. With earnest hearts and busy 
but unskilful hands, went on the preparation 
of lint and bandages. The first service that it 
performed was to supply the wants of volunteers 
arriving at a Camp of Instruction near their city 
Havelocks were made and furnished to the troops; 
and then the Society languished, not fi-om lack 
of interest in the work, but simply from utter igno- 
rance of what the work ought to be. It revived, 
from time to time, as openings to a real service 
were seen before it, and the idea presented itself 
to centralize at this depot the efforts of all wom- 
en in that part of the State of Ohio. Meetings 
were regularly held, and a concerted action was 
obtained. Every one strove to do her part, 
but every one doubted as to the proper disburse- 
ment of the stores. Informal letters of inquiry 
were written, — one of them to the United States 
Sanitary Commission. In reply the advice was 
given, to confine their shipments, for the sake of 
economy and natural causes, to the armies then 
collecting at the "West. But the hazard of trans- 
portation, and the difficulty of guarding against 
waste or misapplication of stores, were deeply 
felt ; out of this feeling grew a proposal from the 
society to become, and it accordingly became, a 
Branch of the United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion. 

Strengthened in its work by the generous 
inflowing of its auxiliaries from all parts of its 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 51 

field, this Society has borne its part in the ma- 
jestic work of the West. At the present day it 
sends a car-load to the Central Depot at Louis- 
ville every ten days ; makes shipments at irregu- 
lar intervals to Wheeling, Va., and to Kansas ; 
besides occasionally sending in smaller quanti- 
ties to other points where special need occurs. 
The Army of the Cumberland receives the bulk 
of its stores, but it has added largely to the lading 
of many Sanitary Commission boats for Vicks- 
burg. With all this work accomplished, and 
amidst their rejoicings at the opening of the 
Mississippi, the hearts of these women went to 
that portion of the land then enduring special suf- 
fering. " We have gratefully watched," they say, 
" the course of our Army at the East, and only 
wished that we were not too far off to help the 
sufferers at Gettysburg. The Sanitary Commis- 
sion has left a noble record upon that battle- 
field : we hear for ourselves the gratitude ex- 
pressed for the Commission, its agents, and its 
supplies, from the wounded who come through 
this city from Vicksburg and the Army of the 
Cumberland. We hope that we may soon see 
the end of this war ; but, lest that hope should 
make us impatient in our work, we temper it 
by constantly remembering that we are ' in for 
the war,' be the time what it may." 

Cincinnati Branch United States Sanitary Com- 
mission. — The first meeting of the Cincinnati 
Branch of the United States Sanitary Commis- 



52 THE UNITED STATES 

sion was held Nov. 27, 1861, when steps were 
taken to form a working organization, to obtain 
a depot and an office, to issue a circular to the 
people of Southern Ohio, Indiana, and Northern 
Kentucky, and to open the work of inspection, 
and supply the wants of camp and hospital 
within these limits. A few days later, the 
"Woman's Central Soldiers'- Aid-Society " was 
under way, composed of delegates from twenty- 
four independent societies already at work since 
the commencement of the war in the city and 
county of Cincinnati ; for it must not be sup- 
posed that, although the organization of the 
Board was deferred to November, the citi- 
zens of Cincinnati have looked idly upon the 
great struggle of the country for national ex- 
istence and the integrity of territory and insti- 
tution. 

On the 13th of December, 1861, a circular 
was issued stating the position and purpose 
of the United States Sanitary Commission, and 
explaining in detail that system through which 
the liberal and patriotic, especially the women 
of the country, might cooperate with the Gov- 
ernment. In all this the advice was taken of 
some of the older auxiliaries of the Commis- 
sion. The strength of union was soon apparent. 
At the central office, the work of packing and 
forwarding supplies became so great as to re- 
quire the labors of six men, and at the present 
day there is no point within the lines of the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 



53 



Armies of the Mississippi which their abundant 
stores do not systematically supply. 

Some general idea of the work of the West- 
ern Branches may be obtained from the follow- 
ing list of the issues of supplies from their 
depots from Sept. 1, 1861, to Sept. 1, 1863. 
The branches here represented are those of 
Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Louisville, Pitts- 
burg, Buffalo, and New Albany. Detroit and 
Columbus not reported. 



Packages 62,445 

Blankets 10,911 

Comfortables 38,957 

Bed-ticks 24,898 

Pillow-ticks 10,421 

Pillows 18,841 

Pillow-cases 153,017 

Sheets 87,082 

Shirts 192,712 

Drawers 107,465 

Dressing-gowns 11,483 

Coats and Vests 8,999 

Towels and Handk'fs. . . .270,276 

Socks 84,485 

Slippers 15,207 

Mittens 9,180 

Nightcaps 4,464 

Bandages and Rags. .205,632 lbs. 
Sponges and Pads . . . 51,024 " 

Pin-cushions 27,182 

Fruit-cans 97,642 

Concen. Beef 30,116 lbs. 



Condensed Milk 46,807 lbs. 

Crackers 100,320 " 

Dried Beef 13,423 " 

Tea 5,779 " 

Sugar 21,580 " 

Dried Fruit 466,347 " 

Light Groceries 47,657 " 

Codfish 50,862 " 

Cheese 11,981 " 

Butter 40,170 " 

Eggs 38,633 doz. 

Wine and Spirits . .29,378 bottles 

Apple-Butter 2,160 galls. 

Pickles 27,471 " 

Sauer Kraut 3,780 " 

Potatoes 50,281 bush. 

Ale and Cider 11,584 galls. 

Chickens 4,134 

Crutches 3,309 prs. 

Miscellaneous articles 
Hospital Furniture . . 



not stated 



Tiie Eastern Branches are those in New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Pitts- 
burg. The first derives its supplies (on the 
principle already named) from the States of 



54 THE UNITED STATES 

New York, Northern New Jersey, Rhode Island, 
and Connecticut ; the second from Maine, Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts ; the 
third from southern New Jersey, Delaware, and 
Pennsylvania; the fourth and fifth from the west- 
ern parts of the States of New York and Penn- 
sylvania. The first of these (10 Cooper Union, 
New York) led the way, as we have shown, April 
25th, 1861. The second (22 Summer Street, Bos- 
ton) followed in the autumn of 1861 with that 
earnestness of purpose, that steadiness of will, 
which are the birthright and the power of New 
England. The third i(1307 Chestnut Street, Phil- 
adelphia) has come but recently into the Union 
work. For this reason some discouragement 
was felt as it entered upon its effort to turn the 
liberality of the State into the national channel. 
The delay, however, has proved an element in 
its favor. The zeal of the societies throughout 
the State had begun to languish, but the spirit 
and principles of the Sanitary Commission, when 
laid clearly before them, ran like fire through 
their veins, until, to-day, in act and promise, this 
Branch holds ground with all the others. The 
fourth (No. 2, Adams's Block, Washington Street, 
Buffalo) sprang up simultaneously with the sec- 
ond, in the autumn of 1861, through the influ- 
ence of some associate members of the Com- 
mission. No branch has worked more faithfully 
to show the truth and instil the principles of the 
Sanitary Commission, learning them and teach- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 55 

ing them with wisdom, faith, and patience. The 
fifth (59 4th Street, Pittsburg, Pa.) has brought 
to the Commission an ardor in its service, a faith- 
fulness to its spirit, which have earned for it a 
noble response throughout the western part of 
the State of Pennsylvania. The two Branches 
last named send their supplies East or West as 
necessity demands, but chiefly to the Armies in 
the West. 

These fields are again broken up into " Cen- 
tres of Collection," in the cities, from which 
everything flows into the Branches, where the 
supplies are held at the disposal of the central 
head. 

The work done by the gentlemen and the 
gentlewomen of the land, in the oflaces and 
storehouses of the Branch Commissions, is that 
of an immense shipping business. The boxes 
come in from every part of their tract of supply : 
from the centres of collection, from the villages 
and country towns.^ 

The goods are sorted and stamped " U. S. 
Sanitary Commission " ; then each article, and 
each kind of article, is repacked in separate 
boxes, which are closed up and held ready on 
demand. Soon the demand comes. A telegram 

1 There is a pathos in these boxes, which none but those 
who have unpacked them can understand. But alas ! too 
often no care has been taken to send a list within them, nor 
a letter by mail ; and so they can never be identified, and 
the grateful hearts which are unpacking them must grieve 
over the impossibility of acknowledging their receipt. 



56 THE UNITED STATES 

arrives from Washington, " The transport 

sails to-day for Beaufort, S. C." The Branch 
knows what is needed in that region and that 
climate, and within an hour boxes of thin flan- 
nel shirts, cotton socks, li^ht quilts, single wrap- 
pers, mosquito netting, fans, &c., &c., are on 
their way to the Government transport. Or, 
it may be that the season is winter, and the 
region a cold one ; then go forth the stores of 
warm clothing (greatly needed just now by all 
the Branches) : blankets, bedding, heavy quilts, 
&c. The thoDghtfulness and tenderness of the 
Commission, in these little niceties, remind us 
of a mother's care, (little niceties we call them, 
but are they not the source of a large econ- 
omy?) There is something inexpressibly touch- 
ing in this looking at the masses as individuals, 
guessing and foretelling their necessities, as a 
mother sends to her absent one those comforts 
which her anxious thought tells her that he must 
need. 

Every week, an account of stock on hand, and 
of the distribution, is sent from every Branch to 
the central office in Washington, and the Relief 
Agents who have received these supplies ac- 
count for them weekly to the same office : so 
that a knowledge of all articles on hand, and of 
the distribution throughout the United States, is 
possessed at any moment by the central head. 

A large number of cases, especially from the 
Boston Branch, go into the storehouses in Wash- 



SANITAKY COMMISSIOK 57 

ington from which the Armies of Virginia re- 
ceive their supply. These storehouses are five 
in number: one, the receiving building; the sec- 
ond for woollen goods (alas ! too empty) ; the 
third for cotton goods ; the fourth for edibles 
the fifth, miscellaneous. 

Out of 20,000 cases sent to these warehouses, 
but one is known to have been lost. The letters 
announcing them are copied into a book ; and 
an agent watches for them at the railroad, and 
keeps his book of their receipt : the agent at 
the warehouses, who receives and sorts them, 
keeps his book ; the agent at the disbursing or 
distributing office keeps his book ; and every 
day these several books are brought together 
at the Central Office, checking and balancing 
each other ; and every morning a printed sched- 
ule-sheet is filled out, showing goods on hand, 
what, and how much, of each and every article. 

We have now shown briefly how the people's 
gifts are collected and dealt with. Nothing, 
however, can ever show the loving confidence 
of the people in the Commission, growing and 
strengthening by tangible proof, day after day, 
month after month, year by year. 

We must now follow those gifts along their 
wider flow, into the regions and places of suf- 
fering. 



PART 11. 

GENERAL RELIEF. 

The opening work of the Sanitary Commis- 
sion was naturally one of prevention rather than 
cure. Inspection and inquiry was its fir^t object 
and its first labor. It was no sooner fairly in 
existence than the great flight of Bull Run oc- 
curred. An inquiry made into the causes of 
that disaster; its history from a sanitary point 
of view, — showing how far the flight and panic 
were due to the weary and exhausted preceding 
condition of the troops, — was, and still remains, 
one of the remarkable works of the Commis- 
sion ; and it was one which produced, even in 
other countries, a just sense of its character 
and value. 

Out of that disaster the Commission, taught 
always by necessity, came into another field of 
work, which has since become one of its most 
beneficent ; for the cup of cold water given to 
fainting men as they toiled back into Wash- 
ington, was the earliest act in the history of 
Special Relief. Verily, it has in nowise lost its 
reward. A sketch of the history of this Relief 
will be given later. It may be said here that 



THE U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION. 59 

it was under way early in August 1861 ; its first 
object being to supply to the sick men of regi- 
ments arriving at Washington such medicines, 
food, and care, as it was impossible for them to 
receive from their own officers, in the confusion 
of their arrival, with the regimental medicine- 
chest inaccessible in the baggage-car, and the 
regimental surgeon and quartermaster obliged 
to leave the men and go to hunt up government 
officials in a strange city. 

A few weeks later, we find a little record 
from which will date an enlargement of the 
work. 

" August 25th, I went to the Paymaster's 
Department, by request of a sick man at the 
Station House, who had his papers, but said 
he was so weak he could not push up to the 
window and get his pay. I found about forty 
men waiting in the yard of the office, some 
apparently very feeble. This was on Tuesday 
afternoon. One man had been waiting since 
Saturday forenoon. He was lame and weak, 
and the other new-comers kept him back. Three 
others had waited since Monday morning ; one 
who was there all day Saturday without get- 
ting his pay, had died on Sunday night, in 
a house near by. Seeing the case from the 
outside, which the officers within the building 
in their press of business did not observe, I 
stated the facts to the proper officers, and they 
immediately made arrangements by which the 



60 THE UNITED STATES 

men most sick were paid off at once, and facili- 
ties secured for the future." — From Mr. Knapp's 
First Report^ p. 8. 

The story of relief which was thus produced 
will be found elsewhere. 

During the winter of 1881-62, when the 
Army of the Potomac lay in cantonments in 
and around Washington, or remained compara- 
tively inactive in Virginia, the Sanitary Com- 
mission began its system of current supply. 
This was done, either by means of the Inspec- 
tors, who ascertained the wants of the sick in 
camp or hospital, and reported them to those in 
charge of the work of relief, — or through the 
direct appeals to the Commission of surgeons 
and commanding officers for such supplies as 
they could not obtain, or knew not how to 
obtain from Government. The office-books of 
that period are very interesting, and show a 
little history of the condition of each regiment 
in the Army. Parallel with its work of Inspec- 
tion, and of Relief to troops in camp or barracks, 
the Commission has, from the first establishment 
of General Military Hospitals at the base of the 
various armies, maintained its supervision over 
their inmates, and has bestowed on them the 
same inspection of their condition, and the same 
relief of their necessities which it gave to the 
sick in camp or post hospitals. It signified its 
sense of the importance of this special work by 
the appointment of a medical man as Inspector 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 61 

of General Hospitals in the summer of 1861, 
soon after the battle of Bull Run ; and, in its 
instructions to General Inspectors, prominence 
has always been given to these duties. 

With the improvements everywhere progress- 
ing in the condition and management of Hos- 
pitals, the need of inspection has been growing 
less ; but there has been no suspension of the 
readiness of the Commission to bestow the 
people's gifts here, or wherever they are needed. 
Hospital Inspectors have given place to Hospi- 
tal Visitors, who, at brief intervals, renew their 
visits to each hospital; ascertain by careful in- 
quiry of surgeons, and of the most reliable ward- 
masters and nurses the wants, present and pro- 
spective, of the inmates ; and give orders on 
the storehouses of the Commission for requisite 
articles not included in the government sup- 
plies. 

The only important field-work with the 
Armies of Virginia, which occurred during the 
winter of 1861-62, was the relief sent to the 
wounded after the battles at Edward's Ferry, 
Ball's Bluff, and Drainesville. It will be seen, 
therefore, that, though the work of the Commis- 
sion at this time was of the utmost importance, 
as supplying what may be called the routine 
needs of the Army and of the hospitals, yet no 
very salient point in its history occurred until 
the Army advanced to its first campaign in 
March, 1862. 



62 THE UNITED STATES 

In other fields, however, in the West and at 
the South, such work was already in progress, 
and an account of it will be found in its appro- 
priate place. The history of the field-work with 
the Army of the Potomac will therefore open 
with the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. 

AKMIES OF VIRGINIA. -PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

The sudden transfer of the scene of active 
war from the high banks of the Potomac to a 
low and swampy region, intersected with a net- 
work of creeks and rivers, early in the sum- 
mer of 1862, required appliances for the proper 
care of the sick and wounded, which the Gov- 
ernment was not, at that time, prepared to fur- 
nish. Seeing this, and armed with the approval 
of the Medical Bureau, the Sanitary Commis- 
sion applied to the Quartermaster- General for 
the use of some large steamers, to be fitted up 
as Hospital Transports, for the reception and 
conveyance of the sick and wounded. These 
steamers had been lately used in transporting 
troops to the Peninsula, and were then lying 
idle, at a cost of $800 or $1000 a day. The 
Secretary of War immediately ordered so many 
of them as would carry 1000 men, to be detailed 
to the Commission, which, on its part, entered 
into an agreement with the Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral to take charge and proper care of at least 
that number of sick and wounded. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 63 

The first vessel, " The Daniel Webster," was 
assigned to the Commission, April 25th, 1862. 
A. hospital company and stores were immedi- 
ately embarked, and she reached the York 
River, April 30th, refitting as a hospital on 
the voyage down. The General Secretary, Mr. 
Olmsted, took charge of the expedition, and 
with it went several members of the Commis- 
sion. The hospital company was composed 
of surgeons, dressers, and nurses, — some of the 
latter being women. The ship was at once re- 
ported ready for duty ; her stores, of which she 
brought a large quantity over and above her 
own needs, were placed in a storehouse ashore, 
— additional supplies coming down in store- 
boats, — and the work of supplying the sick in 
camp and hospital at once began. Meantime 
(May 1st) patients were received on board the 
" Webster," — fed, cleaned, and put to bed, in a 
droll state of grateful wonder. 

" The Daniel Webster " was no sooner started 
on her voyage to New York than the work of 
all was concentrated on " The Ocean Queen," 
a magnificent vessel, capable of carrying one 
thousand sick, which the Quartermaster then de- 
tailed to the Commission. Of course she came 
into their hands naked, as it were, for their pur- 
pose, — not a bunk nor an article of food on board 
of her. But the anxiety of the surgeons ashore 
(a species of anxiety which the Commission, on 
serious grounds, had forever to contend with) 



64 THE UNITED STATES 

pressed the sick and wounded on board ; and 
tugs and lighters came off with their freights of 
misery to be thrown upon the " Queen." All 
hands went to work ; the supply-boat found her 
corner along-side, and, as the poor fellows tot- 
tered on board the empty ship at one gangway, 
the stores were hastily brought in upon the 
other. Some of the party went ashore, shot a 
rebel cow at pasture, and brought off the beef. 
The women, meantime, had hunted out a bar- 
rel of Indian meal, forgotten and left behind in 
some dark corner of the big ship, and were 
already ladling out from the ship's buckets hot 
gruel which they had made of it. 

It was a hard first experience, and how it was 
got through with, none of the party could ever 
tell; but they all had one definite idea: — 
namely, that every man had had a good place to 
sleep in, and something hot to eat, and that the 
very sick had had every essential that could have 
been given them in their own homes. 

The last work of somebody was to capture 
two draught-oxen, left behind by Franklin's 
division, (fresh beef was a great essential,) 
meantime the vessel filled up to 900, mostly 
typhoid ; and then, to prevent more from being 
forced on board, she was got under-weigh and 
went out to sea. 

Meantime Yorktown was evacuated ; the 
battle of Williamsburg had been fought ; the 
Army was thrown forward in rapid pursuit, and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 65 

the hospital party, having sent off the " Ocean 
Queen," started in a little boat called " The 
Wilson Small " for West Point, where a battle 
was reported to be in progress, — accompanied 
by the supply-boat " The Elizabeth," com- 
monly called " The Fiend," from her habit of 
rushing up, shrieking and howling at all hours 
of the night, much to the disgust of the poor, 
tired hospital company, who had to wake up 
ftdly to the idea that she was going off on some 
nocturnal errand of mercy, before they could be 
comforted. 

On this little boat — " The Wilson Small " — 
the Commission received almost its first wounded 
men. They consisted of picked cases of special 
danger, — several being amputations of a bad 
character. One of these seemed dying as he 
came on board; but the next morning, at sun- 
rise, he opened his eyes, and, looking up at his 
nurse, said, " You have saved my life for my 
wife." These men were kept on board " The 
Small " until they could be safely transferred to 
a proper boat, which had to be found and fitted 
up. Meantime they were in the care of Dr. 
Kobert Ware, and nursed by a company of men 
and women. 

It is not the purpose here to speak of the ser- 
vices of individuals, nor to give praise of that 
small kind ; but a record of this work would be 
incomplete if it made no mention of the con- 
duct of the young men who were employed 
5 



66 THE UNITED STATES 

upon it. They were of all classes and all char- 
acters ; chiefly students of medicine. They had 
but one spirit and one purpose, and they gave 
themselves gayly, without a sense of fatigue, dis- 
comfort, or reluctance, to any work which was 
assigned to them ; their conduct will never be 
forgotten by those who saw it. 

Dr. Robert "Ware, an Inspector of the Com- 
mission, and long employed in its service, had 
joined the expedition as it passed Fortress Mon- 
roe, the point where he was stationed. This 
narrative, as it goes on, will show him to the 
reader, and if there be in it any truth or interest, 
it is dedicated to his memory. 

At West Point the hospital company broke 
up for a time into parties of two and three, 
going upon the different boats crowded with 
wounded, which passed down the river and 
discharged their freight into the hospitals at 
Fortress Monroe. These boats, pressed into the 
service by the medical officers on the emer- 
gency of the moment, were bare of everything 
for hospital purposes ; and if it had not been for 
the Commission stores, and the Commission 
people, hastily thrown on board of them as they 
passed, the men would have been scarcely better 
off than on the battle-field. 

Meantime the Commission people, at York- 
town, were taking possession of " The Elm 
City " and " The Knickerbocker," North River 
steamers, made over to them by the Quarter- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 67 

master. Both were splendid, surgical boats, 
especially " The Knickerbocker," with her great 
main-deck running clear from stern to waist, 
giving an amount of " floor-room " appreciated 
by any one in the service. " The Small " re- 
turned to Yorktown with her freight of wounded, 
to meet the steamship " Daniel Webster," ar- 
riving from her first trip, and bringing the intel- 
ligence that " The Ocean Queen " had reached 
New York, but was withdrawn for the transpor- 
tation of troops to the Gulf, and that " The 
S. R. Spaulding " could be taken in her place. 
This was rather hard, especially as " The Spauld- 
ing " was entirely unfitted for the purposes of a 
hospital ship. One of the great difficulties of 
the Commission throughout was, that the Gov- 
ernment did not consider the boats detailed to 
it as made over for the time for its especial pur- 
pose. Signal instances occurred where immense 
labor, and even expense, were brought upon the 
Commission by this difficulty. 

" The Daniel Webster," freighted with typhoid, 
left again the day after her arrival, and then 
came a little breathing-space. The surgical 
cases which had been a week on " The Small " 
were carefully removed to " The Elm City," 
which lay in the stream, and was being fed with 
sick and wounded coming off" in lighters from 
various points along the shore ; — sick and 
wounded, who, dropping from the army on its 
march, and getting to the shores of the river, 



68 THE UNITED STATES 

were there picked up by little tugs and brought 
down to the Commission boats. When " The 
Elm City " had four hundred and forty on board, 
she weighed anchor and left for Washington, 
and the Commission turned its attention to the 
work of fitting up " The Spaulding," and mak- 
ing arrangements for future emergencies. All 
this time, however, the current work was going 
on ; the hospitals at Yorktown were examined 
and supplied with stores ; the hospital trans- 
ports " Vanderbilt," " Louisiana," and " State 
of Maine," (not directly in charge of the Com- 
mission,) were fitted out with supplies ; whilst 
the work of receiving and collecting straggling 
parties of wounded men, as they came down 
from the front, kept those on board the boats 
unceasingly busy. Take, for instance, the his- 
tory of one day. A telegram from the Medical 
Director of the Army at Williamsburg comes to 
the quartermaster at Yorktown, demanding a 
boat to be ready to take on two hundred sick and 
wounded at Queen's Creek, " within two hours ; 
this," adds the telegram, " is of the utmost 
urgency. See the Sanitary Commission." So, 
with great exertions, and quite a little history 
of effort, up goes a small boat after the men. 
To be sure they were not to be found at the 
point indicated ; the Director saying that he did 
not suppose his telegraphic order could be so 
promptly complied with, and so he had as yet 
taken no measures to send them down: — the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. G9 

landing was four miles from Williamsburg 
However, they were obtained at last, and 
brought back out of their misery, and shipped 
on board the large steamer ready for them at 
Yorktown. Meantime another despatch has 
been received from somewhere else : " A hun- 
dred sick are left on the shore at Bigelow's 
Landing, in the rain, to die without attendance 
or food," — and another expedition goes off at 
night, and brings them back ; and so on, and so 
on, through many such days and many such 
histories. 

Meantime "The Knickerbocker" has been 
fitted up and has gone North. Things are doing, 
on the whole, pretty well at Yorktown, but evi- 
dently the future work is to be nearer the Army, 
now advancing along the Pamunkey River, 
close upon Richmond. Mr. Olmsted determines 
to go forward and see the ground for himself. 
In the meanwhile, however, the poor little 
" Small," kicked and cuffed and knocked round 
by all the big vessels (not to speak of " The 
Fiend ") is hors de combat^ and can't even get 
up steam. So the hospital party, reluctantly 
leaving for a time the dear little home in which 
they had lived a life which was life indeed, went 
on board " The Spaulding " and started for the 
Pamunkey. 

It must here be explained that the Sanitary 
Commission corps naturally divided itself into 
certain fields of work. One portion of the party. 



70 THE UNITED STATES 

composed equally of men and women, under 
the guidance of Mr. Olmsted, remained perma- 
nently at the scene of action ; their work was 
anything that came to hand, but chiefly this : — 
to superintend the shipping of sick or wounded 
on board the boats which returned from the 
North for fresh loads ; to fit up those boats, or 
others coming into the Commission's hands ; 
to receive at the landing, to sort and to distrib- 
ute, according to orders, the patients who ar- 
rived in freight-cars from the front ; to feed, 
cleanse, give medical aid and nursing to all 
these men, and otherwise take care of them, 
before the vessels left again for the North ; and 
finally to be ready for any great emergency, and, 
when it came, to do their utmost to meet it. 

This was the work of the subordinates ; the 
work of the chiefs was heavier far, and will be 
alluded to further on. Another portion of the 
hospital company took charge of the vessels 
when they left the landing, and fulfilled the 
great object of the Commission, in carrying 
their freights of sick and wounded, with tender 
care, to the Northern hospitals ; returning in the 
ships, (which were cleansed and painted at the 
North,) and refitting them for the sick as they 
returned. In this history more reference is 
necessarily made to the company remaining at 
the scene of action ; but it must be remembered 
that their work was not, in any degree, more 
important than the work of the others, though 



SANITARY COMMISSION. •- 71 

it was doubtless harder and more exciting. 
Perhaps the story will be more graphic if we let 
some of these people speak for themselves. 

On the 16th May, 1862, the Army of the 
Potomac reached White House, a point twenty- 
five miles from Richmond, where the E-ichmond 
and York River Railroad crosses the Pamunkey. 
On the 19th it was on its way to the line of the 
Chickahominy, leaving nothing behind it but a 
barren plain, and its great " base of supplies." 

" Floating Hospital ' S. R. Spaulding^^ WJiite 
House, Pamunkey River, May 18th, 1862. — Yes- 
terday, after getting off 'The Knickerbocker' 
from Yorktown, with three hundred sick on 
board, we transferred our quarters to this ves- 
sel, and started to run up the Pamunkey. It 
was audacious in us to run this big ocean 
steamer up this little river, without a chart and 
without a pilot. In some places we brushed 
the trees as we passed ; but w^e came safely up, 
and this morning when we came on deck, what 
a sight was there to greet us ! The glow of the 
morning mist, the black gunboats, the shining 
river, with the gleam of the white sails and the 
tents along the shore, made a picture only to be 
painted by Turner. We ran up to the very head 
of the fleet, — to the very head-quarters of the 
Army, and to the burnt railroad-bridge, beyond 
which no one could go. After breakfast we 
went ashore with Generals — , — , — , and spent 
an hour at the White House 



72 THE UNITED STATES 

" We were going to Head-quarters, but refrained 
on consideration, and came back to ' The Spauld- 
ing,' through army wagons and pie-pedlers (we 
met one man eating six pies at once) ; and re 
warded the three Generals who had come ovei 
to meet us with a few miscellaneous luxuries : — 
handkerchiefs and cologne to General M. ; hair 
pins to General P., — one button of whose cap 
was already screwed on by that female imple- 
ment; linen thread and buttons to General F 
The Harbor- Master wanting the room in the 
evening, we dropped down the stream and an- 
chored by a feather}^ elm-tree." 

Meantime, however, " The Daniel Webster," 
always prompt and true, with her manly cap- 
tain, good sailor, and good man, — and in 
charge of Dr. Grymes and a capital hospital 
company of women and young men, — arrived 
May 19th, filled up, and sailed again on the 
20th, — the " Elm City" and " Knickerbocker" 
arriving empty on the same day. 

It is impossible to give, in a small compass, 
an adequate idea of the difficulties which the 
Commission had taken upon itself, and which 
now began to manifest themselves; — difficulties 
seeming small, perhaps, but which were terrible, 
because the lives of men frequently hung on 
their being overcome, and that instantly. Some 
of these difficulties may be briefly indicated, 
and that is all. 

One thing clearly important was to gain a sys- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 73 

tem by which the work could be carried on, — the 
current work disposed of in such a way as that 
everything could be kept clear for an emergency. 
For this Mr. Olmsted toiled; building unwea- 
riedly upon shifting sands. x\greements to this 
end were no sooner made than they were suf- 
fered to be transgressed by the very wants 
against which they sought to guard. One of 
these was the anxiety to " get off the sick." It 
was known that hospital transports were ly- 
ing in the river ; and to that point the surgeons 
sought to send down their sick, which were cum- 
bering the Army on its march, and requiring care 
which it was not possible for them to give under 
the circumstances. Men who ought never to 
have gone North — who could have got well in 
ten days, with care, in a good hospital at White 
House — were rushed upon the Commission. In 
vain did Mr. Olmsted protest, on every ground, 
national and expedient. In vain did he form 
plans, and make agreements, and ask persist- 
ently for the tents for a shore-hospital ; striving 
to keep his boats for the essential work. At first 
his efforts seemed in vain. Some of his assist- 
ants themselves hardly understood them; — but 
after a while it was seen that, slowly, things 
were getting shaped according to his moulding, 
and the time came when the wisdom of it was 
acknowledged. The only thing regretted was 
that the means to carry out his system were 
not greater. 



74 THE UNITED STATES 

Among the minor difficulties maybe counted 
1st. The conflicts of authority upon the ships 
hired by the Quartermaster's Department, the 
masters of which growled at going into hospital 
service, and, as the Commission's position was 
somewhat that of sufferance, they had to be for- 
ever coaxed and conciliated. 2d. The amount 
of work given by sudden orders to return such 
or such a boat at once to the Quartermaster's 
Department for special service. On one occa- 
sion, "The Spaulding" and "The Elm City" 
were lying together at White House ; " The 
Elm City " was being used as a receiving ship, 
and was two thirds full ; " The Spaulding" was 
shipping men from the shore, and from " The 
Elm City," intending to sail the next day. One 
hundred of these were very sick men. A tel- 
egraphic order is suddenly received to take 
" The Spaulding" from the Commission, and 
send her to Fortress Monroe on transport duty. 
The work is arrested; an explanation and en- 
treaty sent : — " The men are very sick ; shall 
the work go on, or must we stop it ? " The 
answer comes, " Go on." So it recommences. 
An hour later, the Assistant Quartermaster 
comes on board : " I have received orders to 
have ' The Elm City ' and every other avail- 
able vessel ready at break of day, for special 
transport service." A long and hard day's work 
had just been got through with when this order 
came, but there was no help for it. So all hands 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 75 

went to work again. The sick were transferred 
to " The Spaulding " ; some of them very sick. 
Two died during the night. Then all the stores 
had to be transshipped, and the vessel cleared 
and coaled. It was a pitch-dark night, but be- 
fore daybreak the vessel was ready, and — it 
was all for nothing. A change in the plans of 
Government occurred. She was again assigned 
to the Commission, and so, after a hard day's 
work and a hard night's work, the next day was 
spent in replacing her just as she was before. 

Another heavy labor and responsibility was 
that of attending to the stores ; that is, to the 
supply of the thousand applicants coming cease- 
lessly for help from the regiments and field hos- 
pitals at the front ; — in short, the Commissariat 
of the Commission. This was in charge of 
Mr. Knapp, — then Special Relief Agent, now 
Associate Secretary of the Commission. The 
unwearied labor of heart and body which he 
gave to it was too great for the frame or mind 
of any man to bear ; and before the work 
ceased he was in the treadmill of typhoid de- 
lirium. 

The difficulty of bringing the work, as it ivas, 
before the reader's mind, is really very great. 
Scenes jostle each other in the memory until it 
is very hard to be definite. Day and night had 
not at times their proper meaning ; and every 
hour was crowded by something vivid which 
broke in upon the last thing on hand. Here is 



7G THE UNITED STATES 

a little picture which will serve to illustrate part 
of the life : ■ — 

" The last hundred patients were brought on 
board " (imagine any of the ships, it does not 
matter which) "late last night. Though these 
night-scenes are part of our daily living, a fresh 
eye would find them dramatic. "We are awak- 
ened in the dead of night by a sharp steam- 
whistle, and soon after feel ourselves clawed by 
little tugs on either side of our big ship, bringing 
off the sick and wounded from the shore. And, 
at once, the process of taking on hundreds of 
men — many of them crazed with fever — 
begins. There is the bringing of the stretchers 
up the side-ladder between the two boats ; 
the stopping at the head of it, where the names 
and home addresses of all who can speak are 
written down, and their knapsacks and little 
treasures numbered and stacked ; then the 
placing of the stretchers on the platform ; the 
row of anxious faces above and below deck ; the 
lantern held over the hold ; the word given to 
'Lower'; the slow-moving ropes and pulleys; 
the arrival at the bottom ; the turning down of 
the anxious faces ; the lifting out of the sick 
man, and the lifting him into his bed ; and 
then the sudden change from cold, hunger, and 
friendlessness, into positive comfort and satis- 
faction, winding up with his invariable verdict, 
if he can speak, — ' This is just like home ! ' " 

" We have put ^ The Elm City ' in order, 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 77 

and she began to fill up last night. T wish yon 
could hear the men after they are put into bed 
Those who can speak, speak with a will ; the 
others grunt, or nrjurmur their satisfaction. 
' Well, this bed is most too soft ; I don't know 
as I shall sleep, for thinking of it.' ' What 
have you got there ? ' ' That is bread ; wait 
till I put butter on it.' ' Butter, on soft bread ! ' 
he slowly ejaculates, as if not sure that he is n't 
Aladdin with a genie at work upon him. In- 
stances of such high unselfishness happen daily, 
that, though I forget them daily, I feel myself 
strengthened in my trust in human nature, with- 
out making any reflections about it. Last night, 
a man comfortably put to bed in a middle berth 
(there were three tiers, and the middle one in- 
comparably the best) seeing me point to the 
upper berth as the place to put the man on an 
approaching stretcher, cried out : ' Stop ! put me 
up there. Guess I can stand h'isting better 'n 
Iiim.^ It was agony to both. 

" I have a long history to tell you, one of 
these days, of the gratefulness of the men. I 
often wish, — as I give a comfort to some poor 
fellow, and see the sense of rest it gives him, 
and hear the favorite speech : ' O, that 's good 
it's just as if mother was here,' — that the man 
or woman who supplied that comfort were by 
to see how blessed it is. Believe me, you may 
all give and work in the earnest hope that you 
alleviate suffering, but none of you realize what 



78 THE UNITED STATES 

you do ; perhaps yon can't conceive of it, unless 
you could see your gifts in use 

" We are now on board ' The Knickerbocker,' 
unpacking and arranging stores, and getting 
pantries and closets in order. I am writing on 
the floor, interrupted constantly to join in a 

laugh. Miss is sorting socks, and pulling 

out the funny little balls of yarn, and big darn- 
ing-needles stuck in the toes, with which she is 
making a fringe across my back. Do spare us 
the darning-needles ! Reflect upon us, rushing 
in haste to the linen closet, and plunging our 
hands into the bale of stockings ! I certainly 
will make a collection of sanitary clothing. I 
solemnly aver that yesterday I found a pair 
of drawers made for a case of amputation at 
the thigh. And the slippers ! Only fit for pon- 
toon bridges ! " 

This routine of fitting up the ships as they 
arrived^ and of receiving the men on board as 
they came from the front, was accompanied by 
constant hard work in meeting requisitions from 
regiments, with ceaseless battlings for transpor- 
tation to get supplies to the front for camps and 
hospitals ; and was diversified by short excur- 
sions, which we will call " special relief" ; such, 
for instance, as the following : — 

" At midnight two steamers came along-side 
' The Elm City,' each with a hundred sick, 
bringing word that ' The Daniel Webster 
No. 2 ' (a sidewheel vessel, not a Commission 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 79 

boat) was aground at a little distance, with two 
hundred more, having no one in charge of them, 
and nothing to eat. Of course they had to be 
attended to. So, amidst the wildest and most 
beautiful storm of thunder and lightning, four 
of us pulled off to her in a little boat, with tea, 
bread, brandy, and beef-essence. (No one can 
tell how it tries my nerves to go toppling round 
at night in little boats, and clambering up 
ships' sides on little ladders.) We fed them, — 
the usual process. — Poor fellows ! they were 
so crazy ! — And then ' The Wissahickon ' 
came along-side to transfer them to ^ The Elm 
City.' Only a part of them could go in the first 
load. Dr. Ware, with his constant thoughtful- 
ness, made me go in her, to escape returning 
in the small boat. Jnst as we pushed off, the 
steam gave out, and we drifted end on to the 
shore. Then a boat had to put off from ' The 
Elm City,' with a line to tow us up. All this 
time the thunder was incessant, the rain falling 
in torrents, whilst every second the beautiful 
crimson lightning flashed the whole scene open 
to us. Add to this, that there were three men 
alarmingly ill, and (thinking to be but a minute 
in reaching the other ship) I had not even a 
drop of brandy for them. Do you wonder, 
therefore, that I forgot your letters ? " 

Or, again, the following : — 

" Sixty men were heard of as lying upon the 
railroad without food, and no one to look after 



80 THE UXITED STATES 

them. Some of us got at once into the stern- 
wheeler ' Wissahickon,' which is the Commis- 
sion's carriage, and, with provisions, basins, 
towels, soap, blankets, &c., went up to the rail- 
road bridge, cooking tea and spreading bread 
and butter as we went. A tremendous thunder- 
storm came up, in the midst of which the men 
were found, put on freight-cars, and pushed to 
the landing; — fed, washed, and taken on the 
tug to ' The Elm City.' Dr. Ware, in his 
hard working on shore, had found fifteen other 
sick men without food or shelter, — there being 
' no room ' in the tent-hospital. He had studied 
the neighborhood extensively for shanties ; 
found one, and put his men in it for the night. 
In the morning we ran up on the tug, cooking 
breakfast for them as we ran, scrambling eggs 
in a wash-basin over a spirit-lamp: — and such 
eggs! nine in ten addled! It must be under- 
stood that wash-basins in the rear of an army 
are made of tin.^^ 

And here is one more such story : " We were 
called to go on board ' The Wissahickon,' from 
thence to ^ The Sea-shore ' and run down in 
the latter to West Point, to bring off twenty-five 
men said to be lying there sick and destitute. 
Two doctors went with us. After hunting an 
hour for ' The Sea-shore ' in vain, and having 
got as low as Cumberland, we decided {we be- 
ing Mrs. and I, for ths doctors were new 

and docile, and glad to leave the responsibility 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 81 

upon US women) to push on in the tug, rather 
than leave the men another night on the ground, 
as a heavy storm of wind and rain had been 
going on all day. The pilot remonstrated, but 
the captain approved ; and, if the firemen had 
not suddenly let out the fires, and detained us 
two hours, we might have got our men on board, 
and returned, comfortably, soon after dark. But 
the delay lost us the precious daylight. It was 
night before the last man was got on board. 
There were fifty-six of them, ten very sick ones. 
The boat had a little shelter-cabin. As we 
were laying mattresses on the floor, whilst 
the doctors were finding the men, the captain 
stopped us, refusing to let us put typhoid fever 
below the deck, on account of the crew, he said, 
and threatening to push off", at once, from the 

shore. Mrs. and I looked at him ! I did 

the terrible, and she the pathetic, — and he 
abandoned the contest. The return passage 
was rather an anxious one. The river is much 
obstructed with sunken ships and trees ; the 
night was dark, and we had to feel our way, 
slackening speed every ten minutes. If we had 
been alone it would n't have mattered ; but to 
have fifty men unable to move upon our hands, 
was too heavy a responsibility not to make us 
anxious. The captain and pilot said the boat 
was leaking, and remarked awfully that ' the 
water was six fathoms deep about there ' ; but 
we saw their motive and were not scared. We 

6 



b2 THE UNITED STATES 

were safe along-side ' The Spaulding' by mid- 
night; but Mr. Olmsted's tone of voice, as he 
said, You don't know how glad I am to see 
you,' showed how much he had been worried. 
And yet it was the best thing we could have 
done, for three, perhaps five, of the men would 
have been dead before morning. To-day (Sun- 
day) they are living and likely to live. Is this 
Sunday ? What days our Sundays have been ! 
I think of you all at rest, and the sound of 
church-bells in your ears, with a strange, dis- 
tant feeling." 

This was the general state of things at the 
time when the battle of Fair Oaks was fought, 
June 1, 1862. All the vessels of the Commis- 
sion except " The Spaulding " — and she was 
hourly expected — were on the spot, and ready. 
" The Elm City " happened to be full of fever 
cases. A vague rumor of a battle prevailed, 
soon made certain by the sound of the cannon- 
ading; and she left at once (4 a. m.) to dis- 
charge her sick at Yorktown, and performed the 
great feat of getting back to White House, 
cleaned, and with her beds made, before sunset 
of the same day. By that time the wounded 
were arriving. The boats of the Commission 
filled up calmly. The young men had a system 
by which they shipped their men ; and there was 
neither hurry nor confusion, as the vessels, one 
by one, — " The Elm City," " The Knickerbock- 
er," " The Daniel Webster," — filled up and left 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 83 

the landing. After them, other boats, detailed 
by the Government for hospital service, came 
up. These boats were not under the control of 
the Commission. There was no one specially 
appointed to take charge of them ; no one to 
receive the wounded at the station ; no one to 
see that the boats were supplied with proper 
stores. A frightful scene of confusion and mis- 
ery ensued. The Commission came forward to 
do what it could ; but it had no power, only the 
right of charity. It could not control, scarcely 
check, the fearful confusion that prevailed, as 
train after train came in, and the wounded were 
brought and thrust upon the various boats. But 
it did nobly what it could. Night and day its 
members worked : not, it must be remembered, 
in its own well-organized service, but in the hard 
duty of making the best of a bad case. Not 
the smallest preparation was found, on at least 
three of the boats, for the common food of the 
men ; and, as for sick-food, stimulants, drinks, 
there was nothing of the kind on any one of the 
boats, and not a pail nor a cup to distribute 
food, had there been any. 

No one, it is believed, can tell the story, as 
it occurred^ of the next three days ; — no one can 
tell distinctly what boats they were, on which 
they lived and worked through those days and 
nights. They remember scenes and sounds, but 
they remember nothing as a whole ; and, to this 
day, if they are feverish and weary, comes back 



84 THE UNITED STATES 

the sight of men in every condition of hon'or, 
borne, shattered and shrieking, by thoughtless 
hands, who banged the stretchers against pillars 
and posts, dumped them anywhere, and walked 
over the men without compassion. Imagine an 
immense river-steamboat filled on every deck : — 
every berth, every square inch of room, covered 
with wounded men, — even the stairs and gang- 
ways and guards filled with those who were less 
badly wounded; and then imagine fifty well 
men, on every kind of errand, hurried and impa- 
tient, rushing to and fro, every touch bringing 
agony to the poor fellows, whilst stretcher after 
stretcher comes along, hoping to find an empt}^ 
place ; and then imagine what it was for these 
people of the Commission to keep calm them- 
selves, and make sure that each man, on such a 
boat as that, was properly refreshed and fed. 
Sometimes two or even three such boats were 
lying side by side, full of suffering and horrors. 
This was the condition of things with the 
subordinates. With the chiefs it was aggi*a- 
vated by a wild confusion of conflicting orders 
from head-quarters, and conflicting authority 
upon the ground, until the wonder is that any 
method could have been obtained. But an ear- 
nest purpose can do almost everything, and 
out of the struggle came daylight at last. The 
first gleam of it was from a hospital tent and 
kitchen, which, by the goodness and thoughtful- 
ness of Capt. (now Col.) Sawtelle, Assistant 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 85 

Quartermaster, was pitched for the Commis- 
sion, just at the head of the wharf, and near the 
spot where the men arrived in the cars. This 
tent (Dr. Ware gave to its preparation the only 
hour when he might liave rested through that 
long nightmare) became the strength and the 
comfort of the Commission people. As the 
men passed it, from cars to boat, they could be 
refreshed and stimulated, and from it meals 
were sent to all the boats at the landing. Dur- 
ing that dreadful battle-week, 3000 men were 
fed from that tent. It was not the Vale of 
Cashmere, but many dear associations cluster 
round it. 

After the pressure was over, the Commission 
went back to its old routine, but upon a new 
principle. A member of the Commission came 
down to White House for a day or two, and 
afterward wrote a few words about that work. 
As he saw it with a fresh eye, his letter will 
be given here. He says: — 

" I wish you could have been with me at 
White House during my late visit, to see how 
much is being done by our agents there to alle- 
viate the sufferings of the sick and wounded 
soldiers. I have seen a good deal of suffering 
among our Volunteers, and olpserved the marvel- 
lous variety and energy of the beneficence be- 
stowed by the patriotic and philanthropic in 
camp, in hospital, and on transports for the sick ; 
but nothing has ever impressed me so deeply 



86 THE UNITED STATES 

as this. Perhaps I can better illustrate my 
meaning by sketching a few of the daily labors 
of the agents of the Commission as I saw them. 
The sick and wounded were usually sent down 
from the front by rail, a distance of about twenty 
miles, over a rough road, and in the common 
freight - cars. A train generally arrived at 
White House at 9 p. m., and another at 2 
A. M. In order to prepare for the reception of 
the sick and wounded, Mr. Olmsted, with Drs. 
Jenkins and Ware, had pitched, by the side of 
the railway, at White House, a large number 
of tents, to shelter and feed the convalescent. 
These tents were their only shelter while wait- 
ing to be shipped. Among them was one used 
as a kitchen and workroom, or pantry, by the 
ladies in our service, who prepared beef-tea, 
milk-punch, and other food and comforts, in 
anticipation of the arrival of the trains. B}'' 
the terminus of the railway the large Com- 
mission steamboat ' Knickerbocker ' lay in the 
Pamunkey, in readiness for the reception of 450 
patients, provided with comfortable beds and a 
corps of devoted surgeons, dressers, nurses, and 
litter-bearers. Just outside of this vessel lay ' The 
Elizabeth,' a steam-barge, loaded with the hospi- 
tal stores of the Commission, and in charge of 
a storekeeper, always ready to issue supplies. 
Outside of this again lay ' The Wilson Small,' the 
head-quarters of our Commission. As soon as 
a train arrived, the moderately sick were selected 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 87 

and placed in the tents near the railroad and 
fed ; those more ill were carried to the upper sa- 
loon of ' The Knickerbocker,' while the seriously- 
ill, or badly wounded, were placed in the lower 
saloon, and immediately served by the surgeons 
land dressers. During the three nights that I 
observed the working of the system, about 700 
sick and wounded were provided with quarters 
and ministered to in all their wants with a ten- 
der solicitude and skill that excited my deepest 
admiration. To see Drs. Ware and Jenkins, lan- 
tern in hand, passing through the trains, selecting 
the sick with reference to their necessities, and the 
ladies following to assuage the thirst, or arouse, 
by judiciously administered stimulants, the fail- 
ing strength of the brave and uncomplaining 
sufferers, was a spectacle of the most touching 
character. If you had experienced the debili- 
tating influence of the Pamunkey climate, you 
would be filled with wonder at the mere physi- 
cal endurance of our corps, who certainly could 
not have been sustained in the performance of 
duties, involving labor by day and through sleep- 
less nights, without a strong sense of their use- 
fulness and success. 

" At Savage's Station, too, the Commission 
had a valuable depot, where comfort and as- 
sistance was dispensed to the sick when chang- 
ing from the ambulances to the cars. I wish I 
could do justice to the subject of my hasty nar- 
rative, or in any due measure convey to your 



88 THE UNITED STATES 

mind the impressions left on mine in observing, 
even casually, the operations in the care of the 
sick at these two points. 

" When we remember what was done by the 
same noble band of laborers after the battles of 
Williamsburg and Fair Oaks, in ministering 
to the wants of thousands of wounded^ I am 
sure that we shall join with them in gratitude 
and thankfulness that they were enabled to be 
there." 

But the end of it all was at hand; the 
" change of base," of which the Commission had 
some private intelligence, came to pass. The 
sick and wounded were carefully gathered up 
from the tents and hospitals, and sent slowly 
away down the winding river — "The Wilson 
Small " lingering as long as possible, till the tele- 
graph wires had been cut, and the enemy was 
announced, by mounted messengers, to be at 
" Tunstall's " ; in fact, till the roar of the battle 
came nearer, and we knew that Stoneman with 
his cavalry was falling back to Williamsburg, 
and that the enemy were about to march into 
our deserted places. 

" All night we sat on the deck of ^ The Small * 
slowly moving away, watching the constantly 
increasing cloud and the fire-flashes over the 
trees toward the White House ; watching the 
fading out of what had been to us, through 
these strange weeks, a sort of home^ where we 
had all worked together and been happy ; a place 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 89 

which is sacred to some of us now for its in- 
tense living remembrances, and for the hallowing 
of them all by the memory of one who, through 
months of death and darkness, lived and worked 
in self-abnegation ; lived in and for the suffering 
of others, and finally gave himself a sacrifice for 
them." * 

" We are coaling here to-night (' Wilson 
Small,' off Norfolk, June 30th, 1862). We 
left White House Saturday night, and rendez- 
voused at West Point. Captain Sawtelle sent 
us off early, with despatches for Fortress Mon- 
roe; this gave us the special fun of being the 
first to come leisurely into the panic then raging 
at Yorktown. ' The Small ' was instantly sur- 
rounded by terror-stricken boats ; the people 
of the big ' St. Mark' leaned, pale, over their 
bulwarks, to question us. Nothing could be 
more delightful than to be as calm and mono- 
syllabic as we were We leave at day- 

* ROBERT WARE, 

WHO DIED AT WASHINGTON, N. CAEOLINA, DURING 

THE SIEGE, OF DOUBLE-PNEUMONIA BROUGHT 

ON BY EXPOSURE AND TOO GREAT 

DEVOTION IN THE SERVICE OF 

THE 44 REGT. MASS. VOLS., 

OF WHICH HE WAS 

THE SURGEON. 

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN 

THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN 

HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. 



90 THE UNITED STATES 

break for Harrison's Bar, James River, where our 
gunboats are said to be ; we hope to get further 
up, but General Dix warns us that it is not safe. 
What are we about to learn ? No one here can 
tell. . . . (Harrison's Bar, July 2d.) We arrived 
here yesterday to hear the thunder of the battle,* 
and to find the army just approaching this land- 
ing; last night it was a verdant shore, to-day it 

is a dusty plain ' The Spaulding ' has 

passed and gone ahead of us ; her ironsides 
can carry her safely past the rifle-pits which 
line the shore. No one can tell as yet what 
work there is for us ; the wounded have not 



" Hospital Transport ' Spaulding,'' July Zd. — 
Reached Harrison's Bar at 11 a. m,, July 1st, 
and were ordered to go up the James River, as 
far as Carter's Landing. To do this we must 
pass the batteries at City Point. We were told 
there was no danger if we should carry a yellow 
flag; yellow flag we had none, so we trusted 
to the red Sanitary Commission, and prepared 
to run it. ' The Galena' hailed us to keep be- 
low, as we passed the battery. Shortly after, we 
came up with ' The Monitor,' and the little cap- 
tain, with his East India hat, trumpet in hand, 
repeated the advice of ' The Galena,' and added 
that, if he heard firing, he would follow us. 
Our cannon pointed its black muzzle at the 
shore, and on we went. As we left ' The Moni- 
* INIalvern Hill. 



SANITARY COMMISSION-. 91 

tor,' the captain came to me, with his grim 
smile, and said, ' I '11 take those mattresses you 
spoke of.' "We had joked, as people will, about 
our danger, and I had suggested mattresses 
around the wheel-house, never thinking that 
he would try it. But the captain was in ear- 
nest ; when was he anything else ? So the con- 
trabands brought up the mattresses, and piled 
them against the wheel-house, and the pilot 
stood against the mast, with a mattress slung in 
the rigging to protect him. In an hour we had 
passed the dangei and reached Carter's Landing, 
and there was the Army, ' all that was left of it.' 
. . . . Over all the bank, on the lawns of that 
lovely spot, under the shade of the large trees 
that fringed the outer park, lay hundreds of our 
poor boys, brought from the battle-fields of six 
days. It seemed a hopeless task even to feed 
them. We went first into the hospital, and gave 
them refreshment all round. One man, burnt 
up with fever, burst into tears when I spoke to 
him. I held his hand silently, and at last he 
sobbed out, ' You are so kind, and — I — am so 
weak.' We were ordered by the Surgeon in 
charge to station ourselves on the lawn, and 
wait the arrival of the ambulances, so as to give 
something (we had beef-tea, soup, brandy, &c., 

&c.) to the poor fellows as they arrived 

Late that night came peremptory orders from 
the Quartermaster, for ' The Spaulding' to drop 
down to Harrison's Landing. We took some 



92 THE UNITED STATES 

of the wounded with us ; others went by land 
or ambulances, and some — it seems incredible — - 
walked the distance. Others wer6 left behind 
and taken prisoners ; for the enemy reached Car- 
ter's Landing as we left it." 

The work of the Commission upon the hos- 
pital transports was about to close. That work 
had been undertaken as supplemental to the 
Government, — to work a system which the Gov- 
ernment had not at first been ready to take up. 
Until the Government could do what it should 
do for its sick and wounded, the Commission 
stood ready to throw itself into the breach, as it 
did during that dreadful battle-week, — as it does, 
more or less, all the time. But if in this sup- 
plemental work it may chance to point to better 
things, and lead the way^ it does not ask, nor is it 
willing, to remain in it. The thing it asks is, 
not the gift of power, but that the Government 
should come forward and take the work away 
from it by doing it thoroughly. Let this be 
remembered. When the work of gathering up 
the wounded at Harrison's Landing commenced, 
it was found that the Medical Bureau was at 
least more prepared for it than it was on the 
Pamunkey ; and, true to its proper character, 
the Commission withdrew to its proper work. 
' The Elizabeth " found her berth at the land- 
ing, and from that time till the evacuation kept 
up the work of supply.* Three able Inspectors, 

* See Appendix G. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 93 

Drs. Douglas, Steiner, and Crane, remained 
with the Army ; but the transports were given 
back into the hands of the Government, and 
the campaign of the hospital party was over. 
Whatever may have been the ultimate results 
of that campaign, or its influence on future 
work, at least those employed in it could look 
back upon the lives saved to the country 
with satisfaction. We speak of lives saved 
only ; the amount of suffering' saved was incal- 
culable. 

But before it was all over, the various vessels 
had made several trips in the service of the 
Commission, and one voyage of " The Spauld- 
ing " must not pass unrecorded. 

" We were ordered up to City Point, under a 
flag of truce, to receive our wounded men who 

were prisoners in Richmond At last the 

whistle sounded and the train came in sight. 
The. poor fellows set up a weak cheer at the 
sight of the old flag, and those who had the 
strength hobbled and tumbled off the train 
almost before it stopped. We took four hundred 
and one on board. Two other vessels which 
accompanied us took each two hundred more. 
The rebel soldiers had been kind to our men, — 
so they said, — but the citizens had taken pains 
to insult them. One man burst into tears as he 
was telling me of their misery : ' May God de- 
fend me from such again.' God took him to 
Himself, poor suffering soul ! He died the next 



94 THE UNITED STATES 

morning, — died because he would not let them 
take off' his arm. ' I was n't going to let them 
have it in Richmond ; I said I would take it back 
to old Massachusetts.' Of course we had a 
hard voyage with our poor fellows in such a 
condition, but, at least, they were cleaned and 
weU fed." 

This closes the three-months history of the 
Sanitary Commission transports, and of its 
hospital company. If it has interested the 
reader enough to make him desirous to know 
more, he is informed that he will find the sub- 
ject expanded in a series of letters lately pub- 
lished, under the title of " Hospital Transports," * 
to which this narrative is indebted for some 
assistance. 

After the evacuation of Harrison's Landing 
the steam-barge " Elizabeth " served as the prin- 
cipal depot of the Commission for the region 
adjacent to Hampton Roads ; and most oppor- 
tunely was she placed there, for the hospitals 
of that vicinity, containing over 8000 patients 
at that time, were unusually dependent on the 
current assistance of the Commission. An In- 
spector was placed in charge of the work at 
that point. Norfolk became his head-quarters, 
and the chief depot of supplies from which, 
through the ensuing year, the United States 
forces in and around Yorktown, Gloucester 
* Messrs. Ticknor & Fields, Boston. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 95 

Point, Williamsburg, Fortress Monroe, Ports- 
mouth, and Suffolk, (numbering in all nearly 
50,000 men,) received what supplemental aid 
they needed. In August, 1863, thirty thousand 
men having been withdrawn from those regions, 
and the work no longer needing an Inspector, 
this depot was left in charge of the Relief 
Agents. 

During the Peninsular campaign, the ceaseless 
letters of inquiry from the friends of the sick, 
the wounded, and the dead, brought the Com- 
mission to a sense that it must endeavor to 
meet the want thus indicated ; * and thus com- 
menced the "Hospital Directory," of which an 
account will be found elsewhere. 

The pause of the operations in the field 
which followed the evacuation of Harrison's 

* These letters will never cease to be a tender, sad mem- 
ory to those who received them : — "I think you will know 
my boy ; he is fair-haired, straight, and slender, with a fair 
skin and delicate hands." — Poor mother ! could she have 
seen him then ! — " Tell me he is living, and has done ivell^ 
and I care for nothing else." The mother's love always 
seemed more lofty, in one sense, than the wife's. " Give 
him back to me or I die," was the sound of the wife's cry. 
" Give him back to me dead, if he is dead, for I must see 
him" were the words of one such letter. Some one recol- 
lected his death, (his name was in the little note-book,) and 
that he had been buried ashore one Sunday evening. So 
one of us went up and found him under the shadow of the 
feathery elm-tree ; and a little sketch was made of his quiet 
resting-place, and sent to her. All we could send, poor 
soul I 



96 THE UNITED STATES 

Landing was first broken by Stonewall Jack- 
son's attack on General Banks at Cedar Moun- 
tain. Two Inspectors of the Commission, with 
a Relief Agent, were at once despatched to the 
scene of action. The lack of supplies of all 
kinds, in the field and the hospitals, proved to 
be very great. In one instance, stimulants were 
so imperatively needed that a surgeon sent for 
them by private hand to Washington, rather 
than see the suffering of his men. At this 
moment the Commission came in. When the 
Government supplies were exhausted, and the 
people of the entire region, stripped of their 
substance, were unable to give even the neces- 
saries of life to the wounded soldiers, — when 
starvation added its horrors and fed upon the 
flesh of mangled men, — the Commission was 
there to render succor. With medicines, mor- 
phine, and chloroform, it saved as many lives 
as by stimulants and food. The Commission 
Corps fell back with the retiring columns, and 
finally took charge of the trains of wounded 
men sent back to Washington. 

A few days later, the Medical Department 
found itself overwhelmed by the demand made 
upon it by the disasters of General Pope at Bull 
Run. The lowest estimate of the killed and 
wounded was 8000. General Halleck placed 
it at double that number. With an emergency 
of this sort, the Medical Department was, of 
course, unable to cope ; but a great misfortune 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 97 

maimed the work it was prepared to do. Forty- 
three wagon-loads of supplies were sent for- 
ward by the Surgeon- General, and, relying on 
the representations of General Pope that he had 
no intention of retreating, they took up a posi- 
tion which when the army did retreat on the 
following day, led to their capture by the enemy. 

When the news of the battle reached Wash- 
ington, two Inspectors and some Relief Agents, 
with two wagon-loads of supplies, started for the 
battle-field, and reached it before the close of the 
action of the second day. During the succeed- 
ing two days, sixteen wagon-loads arrived safely. 
The sufferings of the wounded after this battle 
have probably not been equalled, at least not 
exceeded, during this war. 

The Inspectors of the Commission assisted 
for a time in dressing the wounds, — the force 
of surgeons being greatly overworked, — and 
then followed a flag of truce which entered 
the enemy's lines for the purpose of obtaining 
those of our wounded (and that the chief body 
of them) who had remained on the battle-fields 
of the previous days. Many of them had been 
lying forty-eight hours on the field, and had as 
yet received no assistance. The sights of that 
field of carnage must not be told. Here, in the 
rear of it, were little groups, under a tree, or in 
slight depressions of the ground ; these were the 
wounded, who had crawled or been borne to 
this scanty shelter. In one such group, there 
7 



98 THE UNITED STATES 

was no one still living ; in another, a single 
poor fellow, with his head pillowed on a rock, 
looked around him on the bodies of four or five 
comrades, whom he had seen die off beside him. 
A little on one side of the field were a number 
of the living, gathered on the edge of a grove, 
most of whom had their canteens filled with 
water by their foes, who had killed an ox and 
a sheep for them, and had given them a portion 
of their own scanty supply of bread. 

On the third day, the wounded were released 
on parole, and were slowly gathered into the 
hospitals at Centreville, guided and aided on 
their way by the Sanitary Commission. Here 
its agents gave out a constant supply of hot 
beef-tea, soup, brandy and water, and biscuit, 
to the exhausted inmates of the ambulances 
which poured in through the long days and 
longer nights, — together with shirts, drawers, 
and blankets. All the wounded came in within 
a week, and the work of the Commission was 
ended, except so far as its supplies were needed 
in the hospitals. 

A few days later, the scene of the war was 
transferred by the rebels themselves into Mary- 
land. General McClellan, recalled to the com- 
mand, advanced upon the invaders ; and a 
jaded army, wearied by forced marches, dis- 
heartened by its loss of prestige^ and broken by 
defeat, followed its noble Leader to a field of 
victory. 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 99 

Battle of Antietam. — The advance, led by 
Generals Franklin, Hooker, and Reno, came up 
with the enemy, Sept. 14th, under General Lee, 
drawn up in line of battle at South Moantain, 
and won the day, — the enemy hastily retreat- 
ing upon Sharpsburg. On the evening of the 
16th, our troops again came up with the lines 
of the enemy, ranged in force along the banks 
of Antietam Creek, reinforced by General Jack- 
son from Harper's Ferry. 

At daylight on the 17th, the battle of An- 
tietam was opened. 

Alas ! that we must turn back at once to 
the dark side of war. In putting together a 
history like this, the accumulation of misery 
and suffering, the anguish that each page and 
each record brings back to the mind that knows 
it, is worse, — yes, it is worse, than the pain of 
any experience, however terrible, on the field. 

The history of what was done by the Sani- 
tary Commission at and after the battle of 
Antietam will be found abridged in the fol- 
lowing letters : — 

" Washington, Sept. 23. 

" To Dr. Bellows, President. — Sir : — 

" I inclose Dr. Agnew's letter. We have sent 
him since the Army of Virginia went to meet 
the invaders, that is, within ten days, 28,763 
pieces of dry goods, shirts, towels, bedticks, pil- 
lows, &c.; 30 barrels old linen, bandages, and 
lint ; 3188 pounds of farina ; 2620 pounds con- 



100 THE UNITED STATES 

densed milk ; 5000 pounds beef-stock and canned 
meats ; 3000 bottles of wine and cordials, and 
several tons of lemons and other fruit ; crackers, 
tea, sugar, rubber-cloth, tin cups, and hospital 
conveniences. 

" We are sending forward more, constantly. 
Four thousand sets of hospital clothing will 
(by special train from New York) get through 
to Frederick to-morrow, if money and energy 
can break through the obstructions of this em- 
barrassed transportation. Your daily supplies 
from New York reach us regularly. 
" Respectfully yours, 

" F. L. Olmsted, 

" General Secretary^ 

* " I cannot now give you a report of all our 
doings since last Wednesday night, but it will 
give you joy to know that we have given some 
aid and comfort to over five thousand wounded. 
I left Washington, as you know, on Wednesday 
at midnight. Arriving at the break in the rail- 
road at Monocacy, Dr. Harris and I walked 
on to Frederick, where I found Dr. Steiner, our 
Inspector, working with great zeal and effi- 
ciency. The demand for our supplies was so 
pressing that it was thought best to open a 
storehouse at once, and Dr. Steiner procured 
one near the railroad station, in anticipation of 
the resumption of steam transportation. Fred- 
* Dr. Agnew's letter. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 101 

erick will be the great depot for the wounded, 
whence they will be distributed to Washington 
and Baltimore ; and hence the necessity of giv- 
ing Dr. Steiner large supplies of hospital stores. 

No additional medical supplies having 

arrived for Dr. Thompson, acting Medical Di- 
rector at Middletown, I desired him to take 
such as he needed from the Sanitary Commis- 
sion wagons as they came. He had previously 
obtained many essential articles of food, &c., 
from our advanced train. I left him twenty-five 
dollars, to be used in purchasing such things as 
we had not, to replenish his deficient stores. 
Early on Friday morning I went to Keedys- 
ville, and to General McClellan's head-quarters ; 
about noon, (Friday 19th,) Dunning arrived 
with his wagons ; on Saturday morning. Dr. 
Brink and Mr. Peverly arrived, and now our 
stores of stimulants, condensed food, band- 
ages, &c., became abundant. Dunning and I 
went out with stores of beef-stock, stimulants, 
and surgical dressings, as soon as he arrived, 
and visited barns and farm-houses within a 
mile and a half of head-quarters, and carried 
some relief to nearly two thousand wounded. 
Everywhere we were asked for chloroform and 
opiates, instruments and bed-pans, and every- 
thing, in fact, required for the wounded, except 
the coarser food furnished by the Commissary, 
and the comforts provided to the extent of their 
ability by the inhabitants, who had been previ- 
ously nearly stripped by the rebels. 



102 THE UNITED STATES 

" It should be remembered that so rapid was 
the movement of the Army through Washing- 
ton after the disaster and losses of the Virginia 
campaign, that the regimental and brigade 
and division medical officers could not, to any 
considerable extent, replenish their exhausted 
supplies. 

" The medical supplies sent to meet the emer- 
gency on "Wednesday did not begin to arrive on 
the battle-field until Saturday afternoon, and 
then in small quantity, and entirely inadequate. 
Many of the same supplies are still here (at 
Frederick) awaiting transportation, while the 
Commission has at least four wagon-trains sent 
to the front that left Washington subsequently 
to Wednesday afternoon, in addition to two 
sent before in anticipation of the battle. You 
can estimate at your office the number of wag- 
ons we have sent forward, including Hay's 
trains, which will be on the battle-field this after- 
noon. As soon as Brink and Mitchell and 
Parsons arrived on the battle-field, I sent them 
over radii previously ascertained to be within 
the circle of the late battles. They will be able 
to state personally the fields of their operations, 
as I desired them to keep notes. I left Dun- 
ning's wagons — in fact, all the two-horse wagons 
and ambulances of our train — constantly going, 
and carrying relief to thousands of wounded. 

" The wounded were mainly clustered about 
barns, occupying the barn-yards and floors and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 103 

stables ; having plenty of good straw well 
broken by the power threshing-machine. I 
saw fifteen hundred wounded men lying upon 
the straw about two barns, within sight of 
each other! Indeed, there is not a barn, nor 
farm-house, nor store, nor church, nor school- 
house, between Boonsborough, Keedysville, 
and Sharpsburg, nor between the latter and 
Smoketown, that is not gorged with the wounded 
— rebel and Union. Even the corn-crib, and 
in many instances the cow-stables, and in one 
place the mangers, were filled. Several thousand 
lie in the open air upon straw, and all are receiv- 
ing the kind services of the farmers' families 
and the surgeons. 

" I hope I never shall forget the evidences 
everywhere manifested of the unselfish and 
devoted heroism of our surgeons, regular and 
volunteer, in the care of both Federal and rebel 
wounded. Wherever I went, I encountered sur- 
geons and chaplains who had given themselves 
no rest, in view of the overwhelming claims of 
suffering humanity. General McClellan's Med- 
ical Director had several times been over the 
field, and given personal direction to the labors 
of the surgeons ; and Dr. Rauch, U. S. A., and 
others were everywhere actively engaged. 

" Having studied the field and the relations of 
the clusters of wounded to a central point, I 
took on Saturday a store at Sharpsburg, hiring 
it of a Union citizen of the name of Cronise. 



104 THE UNITED STATES 

On Saturday evening, I brought up the mule 
teams of Peverly to Sharpsburg. On Sunday 
morning, Dunning, Mitchell, Parsons, and I 
unpacked the boxes, and filled the shelves 
and bins. I took charge of the wagons on 
Saturday night, because Dunning, Brink, and 
Mitchell were out with relief, to the right and 
left, for about three thousand wounded ; and 
Parsons had gone back, under instructions from 
Medical Director Letter man and my approval, 
to BirkettsviUe, with relief to five hundred and 
forty wounded. 

" Our plans, so far, are working splendidly, — 
thanks to the vigor with which you at Wash- 
ington have crowded forward supplies, and the 
aid given by Dr. Letterman and his medical 
officers. We have been ahead of all sup- 
plies, and at least two days ahead of those of 
the Medical Bureau ; the latter fact due to its 
want of independent transportation. A single 
item will show the value of our supplies ; we 
have given out over thirty pounds of chloroform 
within three days after the battle. The rnedi- 
cal authorities had not one hundredth part of 
what was needed ; and in many places impor- 
tant operations were necessarily neglected, and 
life lost. Our chloroform saved at least fifty 
lives, and saved several hundred from the pain 
of severe operations. 

" The want of chloroform was the most serious 
deficiency in the regular medical supplies, and, 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 105 

as the result, amputations which should have 
been primary will now be secondary or impos- 
sible, and the mortality from secondary amputa- 
tions is much greater than from primary. 

" I venture to say that nearly every barn and 
hospital and cluster of wounded, over the wide 
extent of the late military operations, embracing 
a circle of nearly thirty miles, was receiving 
most essential relief from the Commission, while 
the regular medical stores lay at Monocacy 
Bridge. I affirm that great loss of life has 
occurred, and will occur, among the wounded, 
as the direct result of an inability on the part 
of the medical authorities to furnish, by rapid 
and independent means of transportation, the 
surgical and medical appliances needed within 
the two days hnmediately subsequent to the 
battles. 

" When will our rulers learn wisdom and hu- 
manity ? I do not ask for the Medical Bureau 
means of transportation entirely independent of 
and above those of the quartermaster's depart- 
ment; but I do demand such conveyances as 
shall enable the medical officers moving with 
an army, in line of battle, to carry forward sur- 
geons and such surgical materials as chloroform, 
opiates, stimulants, and the primary dressings. 
A few supply-carts, in addition to the ordinary 
medicine wagons, would meet almost any emer- 
gency. Let such carts be light one-horse wagons 
upon springs, so constructed as to be easily 



106 THE UNITED STATES 

drawn past or through the army trains that seri 
ously obstruct the approaches to battle-fields. 
Had Dr. Letterman had under his control one 
dozen one-horse supply-wagons, he could have 
sent to every part of the field the supplies most 
in demand. If Government will not give to the 
Medical Bureau such a train, I insist that we 
must do it. The Commission can have no 
higher object than to strengthen the hands of 
our army surgeons, who now strive so hard to 
perform the most exhausting duties with so few 
appliances. 

" We now need hospital clothing more than 
anything else. I should say. Send two thou- 
sand shirts and drawers to Frederick, fifteen 
hundred to Boonsborough, and four thousand 
to Sharpsburg. As to other supplies, await 
telegraphic orders. We have now, I think, with 
the wagons met last night, enough for several 
days of food, stimulants, and surgical dressings. 
1 shall never cease saying, God bless you for 
all your efforts in sending forward relief to the 
wounded. 

" I cannot close this hasty letter without ex- 
pressing my sense of obligations to Dr. Letter- 
man for unusual facilities, and to all the surgeons 
with whom I came in contact for their uniform 
courtesy and confidence. The country should 
be proud of those faithful men, who labored day 
and night to alleviate the sufferings of the bat- 
tle, without hope of 'honorable mention' or a 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 107 

* brevet' in this world. May they have their 
reward in the next world, where the fact of hav- 
ing given a cup of cold water to a suffering 
human being will be made the occasion of a 
never-fading record and an exhaustless blessing. 
" I beg to add that I saw at Hagerstown and 
Sharpsburg, and at the hospitals on the field of 
Antietam Creek, the most abundant and grati- 
fying evidences of the activity with which our 
Inspectors and agents were doing their duty, 
and of the essential service they were rendering 
the Army.'' 

The great extent of country over which the 
Army now spread itself required two stationary 
depots of the Sanitary Commission. One was 
already established at Sharpsburg, another was 
placed at Harper's Ferry. The march of a great 
army, let it be remembered, is marked by the 
emptying from the regiments of the sick men, 
and the dropping out of the feeble. All these 
the Commission assists to gather up and succor. 
The sick of one corps alone, left behind on its 
march from the Potomac across the Shenan- 
doah into the Valley of the Blue Ridge, amount- 
ed to eighteen hundred men. By degrees, and 
owing to care in which the Commission may 
claim to have assisted largely, one thousand of 
these were returned to duty. 

To meet sudden emergencies, a depot for the 
Commission was established at Manassas June- 



108 THE UNITED STATES 

tion, as soon as it became safe to advance so far 
and from thence, by army stages, it reached 
Acquia Creek and Fredericksburg. Dmung the 
march the relations of the Commission to the 
officers of the Army remained as intimate and 
cordial as ever. The General commanding ex- 
pressed his hearty appreciation of its success, 
and intimated a desire that the principal depot 
of its field supplies should be stationed near 
his head-quarters. But, nevertheless, the reader 
will gather from all this very little real idea of 
the amount of current work which the Commis- 
sion was doing on this field at this very time. 

Battle of Fredericksburg, — The report of the 
battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, reached 
Washington the same night. A propeller was 
chartered, laden with stores, and with a special 
relief party, under the charge of Dr. Douglas, 
started for the front. The steam-barge " Eliza- 
beth," with an efficient crew and well provided 
with stores, was at the Acquia Landing when 
the battle commenced, and the regular corps of 
Inspectors and Relief Agents, marching with 
the Army, had been reinforced by others from 
various points even before the arrival of the spe- 
cial relief party. As soon as the movement to 
cross the river was made, they had proceeded to 
the front from Acquia, visited the field-hospi- 
tals on the Falmouth side of the river, which 
bad been organized in expectation of a battle, 
and distributed several wasfon-loads of stores. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 109 

The special relief party reached Acquia 
Landing, with the extra supplies, at daybreak 
on Monday, and a large part of it immediately 
went forward to Fredericksburg, arriving there 
in time to assist in the removal of the wounded 
to the field hospitals. Two wagons, which 
had been brought from Washington, were 
filled and pushed on. Owing to the condition 
of the roads, the entanglement of the wagons 
in an ambulance train, and the overturning of 
one of them, night found this last half of the 
party still upon the road. They were obliged to 
bivouac, and did not reach the front till the next 
morning, in the midst of a severe rain-storm. It 
was during this stormy night that the Army, 
with a small remaining portion of the wounded, 
was withdrawn from Fredericksburg. 

On the arrival of Dr. Douglas a thorough in- 
spection of the whole field was undertaken. The 
labor was divided, and an especial duty assigned 
to each individual of the party. By noon, all 
the hospitals where the wounded were congre- 
gating had been visited, and the surgeons in- 
formed of the presence of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, and the location of its depot of supplies, 
from whence, until the wounded were all re- 
moved to general hospitals, the issue of stores 
was steady and unremitting. 

We will here leave Dr. Douglas to tell his 
own story : — 

" The scene at our field station was a busy 



110 THE UNITED STATES 

one. Could the contributors to the stores and 
the treasury of the Commission have heard the 
fervent expressions of grateful relief; could they 
have seen the comfort which their bounty afford- 
ed our brave wounded ; could they realize by 
actual intercourse with the wounded the suffer- 
ing from, for instance, cold, alleviated by the 
abundant supply of blankets which their bounty 
had provided ; could they have observed the 
change produced when the soiled and bloody 
garments were replaced by clean and warm 
clothing which they had sent, — they would be 
eager to replenish our storehouses and keep our 
hands filled with the means to accomplish these 
purposes. 

" Early Tuesday morning the rain subsided, 
the sun appeared, and the weather became clear 
and cold. The wounded were for the most part 
placed in hospital tents, upon a plentiful supply 
of hay. Blankets had to repair the absence of 
stoves, which, by some singular mistake, had 
arrived in a condition not to be used, — 'the neces- 
sary stove-pipe not being included in the ship- 
ment. The supply in the hands of the Pur- 
veyor soon became exhausted from the unusual 
demands made upon him, on account of the 
severity of the weather. Fortunately we were 
enabled to supplement his stores, and to answer 
his calls upon us from the reserve, of 1800 blan- 
kets and over 900 quilts, which we had sent 
forward. Many of these were employed in 



SANITARY COMMISSION. Ill 

covering the wounded during the period of their 
transportation by car and steamboat from the 
field hospitals to the general hospitals at Wash- 
ington. 

" It is with a deep feeling of gratitude that I 
have also to report that the last sad office could 
be paid to the dead with an approach to the 
ceremonies of civil life, through the stores 
placed by us at the disposal of the surgeons 
of the hospitals. 

" The comfort of the wounded, and the result 
of the treatment of their wounds, were mate- 
rially affected by the change of clothing provided 
by us. We had been able to get up to our field 
station 5642 woollen shirts, 4439 pairs woollen 
drawers, 4269 pairs socks, and over 2500 towels, 
among other articles. These were liberally dis- 
tributed wherever the surgeons of hospitals indi- 
cated that there was a need. Certain articles of 
hospital furniture, of which there was a compar- 
atively greater want than of anything else, were 
freely obtained by all surgeons at our station. 
Stimulants, I am happy to say, were in great 
abundance among the Purveyor's stores, so that 
the calls upon us were few. The same was gen- 
erally true of food, and positively so of all kinds 
of medicinal articles which at other battles have 
been furnished by us. Nothing of the kind was 
asked for. In the article of food alone, we 
issued in one week, solely to hospitals, sixteen 
barrels of dried fruit, ten boxes of soda biscuit, 



112 THE UNITED STATES 

six barrels of crackers, and nearly 1000 pounds 
of concentrated milk. The beef-stock we had 
brought up was, I am again happy to say, not 
needed, there being a bountiful provision among 
the hospital stores, and fresh beef at command 
at all times, and in any quantity. 

" As rapidly as the wounded were attended 
to, and put in a condition for safe transportation, 
they were removed from the field hospitals to 
the general hospitals in Washington and Point 
Lookout. The removal was effected by ambu- 
lance or stretcher to the cars, by car to the land- 
ing at Acquia Creek, and thence to Washington 
by steamboat. The principal battle occurred 
on the 13th December, and on the 25th the last 
of the wounded were removed. The floors of 
both cars and boats were well covered with fresh 
hay, and in addition to this, the severely wound- 
ed had mattresses or bed-sacks. 

" In order to meet whatever demands might 
arise for the proper sustenance of the wounded 
while on this trying journey, Mr. Knapp, our 
Special Relief Agent, was despatched from 
Washington to Acquia Creek, to provide suit- 
able accommodations for furnishing food or 
shelter at that point. A kitchen was improvised 
upon the Landing, and the first night meals were 
provided for 600 wounded brought down by the 
cars. Mr. Knapp was cordially assisted in this 
humane work by several members of the Chris- 
dan Commission who were present at that 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 113 

place. Through the cordial cooperation of the 
Quartermaster of the post, Mr. Knapp had a 
building erected adjoining our portable store- 
house, which affords shelter and a good bed to 
nearly 100 every night. 

" Our field operations have gradually dimin- 
ished with the removal of the wounded. Our 
supplies were brought up from Acquia Creek in 
every case in charge of a special messenger. 
By the schedule, it will be seen that all the divis- 
ion hospitals were visited and supplies furnished 
to them on requisition. Besides this, supplies 
were also issued to a number of brigade hospi- 
tals, and to over fifty regimental hospitals, pre- 
vious to my leaving on the 24th December. The 
issue to regimental and brigade hospitals was 
continued by Dr. Andrew after my departure, 
an account of which will be hereafter furnished. 

" I cannot close my report without referring 
with admiration to the plan of organization for 
the Medical Corps of the Army just introduced 
by Dr. Letterman, (Medical Director Army of 
the Potomac). The manner in which it was 
carried out was to the honor of the Medical 
Corps, for the advancement of science, and to 
the credit of humanity 

" In most i]\stances the wounded were accom- 
panied to Washington by their own surgeons. 
This was particularly true of the more serious 
cases. At Acquia Creek, Dr. "Warren Webster, 
U. S. A., had charge of the transportation, and 
8 



114 THE UNITED STATES 

everything was done by him to secure the well- 
being of the wounded. Extra clothing from our 
storehouse was placed at his disposal to meet 
any deficiencies. 

" The watchful care, the cautious solicitude 
of the surgeons, and the general kind attention 
of nurses and attendants, should not be passed 
without notice. Individual cases there were, 
where, from constitutional indifference or inherent 
slothfulness, the medical officers or the attendants 
were derelict of duty; but these instances were 
rare, — so infrequent, indeed, as not to affect the 
general opinion that no battle since the war 
commenced has found the medical corps so fully 
prepared for every emergency, or has witnessed 
such prompt, careful, and judicious performance 
of the necessary operations ; such comparative 
immunity from suffering occasioned by a defi- 
ciency or absence of supplies. Too much credit 
cannot be accorded to Surgeon Letterman for 
the persistency with which he has inaugurated 
and carried out the present efficient plan of field 
division hospitals after a battle. 

" Much has been said of the demoralization 
of the Army. I have seen no evidence of it. 
It does not exist in the constitution of the men 
of our climate to be turned back from any 
undertaking by one check, nor to be disheartened 
even by a series of obstacles. Their tempera- 
ment as men is not changed by their discipline 
as soldiers. If signs are to be believed, the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. Il5 

Army of the Potomac to-day is, in firmness of 
purpose, in discipline, in soldierly qualities, 
stronger than ever, and more determined to 
merit by its deeds the high trust and confidence 
reposed in it by the country." 

But not all the care now given to the Army, 
not all the appliances now lavished on it for its 
efficiency and comfort, could keep it from the 
gloomy influences of that repulse. We look in 
vain for something cheerful to break the record 
of that winter, and find only this : — " Signs and 
rumors of another crossing. Pontoon move- 
ments of great obscurity. Ambulance inspec- 
tions. Ammunition supplies." " Marching or- 
ders have come for 8 a. m. to-day. A most 
dispirited army is moving forward, and drag- 
ging itself along over bad roads, with every 
prospect of a speedy return. We ride among 
the soldiers, and look in vain for any trace of 
hope or cheerfulness. They are all of the same 
spirit — sad and dejected." This was the dismal 
mud march from which, thank God, they re- 
turned without a battle. 

But the Commission followed it on the qui 
vive, and the report goes on to say how, here 
and there, its sentinels of relief were posted. 
One little record is gracious and gratifying: — 
" A verbal report made to Dr. Letterman of 
neglected duties in the ambulance corps. He 
issues orders for inquiry and correction, and ex- 
presses his appreciation of such reports through 
the Sanitary Commission." 



116 THE UNITED STATES 

Meanwhile the current work went on, and 
every corps, regiment, and company of the en- 
tire Army was visited, examined, and aided. 

Battle of Cliancellorsville. — On the morning 
of the 27th of April, 1863, orders were issued 
that the Army of the Potomac should be in 
readiness to move at an hour's notice ; and 
before night the main body of it was already 
on its march, under the pressure of orders to 
move rapidly. With each corps went a repre- 
sentative of the Commission, furnished with 
sufficient stores for its current necessities, and 
for the first demands of an emergency. These 
stores were replenished from time to time with 
fresh supplies, sent forward on mules. 

During the fatal week which saw the battle 
of Chancellorsville and the storming of the 
heights of Fredericksburg, over those heights 
and upon that field the agents and stores of the 
Commission were rendering all the assistance 
which was needed. At no previous period of 
the war had medical and surgical appliances 
been so accessible to the surgeons. They were 
obtained readily, without perplexity or delay, 
and the work of the Commission became there- 
fore strictly supplemental. 

When the wounded were removed to the 
Falmouth side of the river, for temporary lodg- 
ment in field hospitals or for transportation to 
corps hospitals scattered between the Potomac 
and Acquia Creeks, the Commission agents 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 117 

who had remained at Acquia were able to ren- 
der much manual assistance ; whilst their stores 
were of great value, from the fact that on that 
side of the river no such large numbers of the 
wounded were expected, and the preparations for 
them were not sufficient. 

From that time until the wounded were all 
brought in, the toil was very great ; there were 
many thousands of them, and their numbers 
were increased by the addition of those who 
had been prisoners, and who were released by 
the enemy on parole, eight days after the battle. 
Meantime arrangements were made to trans- 
port the majority of them to the hospitals at 
Washington ; and owing to the wise care of the 
medical officers, Dr. Brinton at Falmouth, and 
Dr. Taylor at Acquia, this was done as expe- 
ditiously and comfortably to the poor fellows 
as the gigantic proportion of the work would 
allow. 

Nevertheless there was much need of the as- 
sistance of the Commission. At first the trans- 
ports were found to be in good order, and well 
supplied for the relief and comfort of the men ; 
but soon the immense number of wounded who 
poured in obliged the medical officers to take 
the common transports into their service. To 
supply these transports, to shelter and feed the 
unjiappy sufferers who were brought down to 
the Landing, and often compelled to wait many 
hours before they could be shipped, became at 



118 THE UNITED STATES 

once the recognized work of the Commission, — 
a work which had, however, existed, though in 
a lesser degree, during the greater part of the 
winter. For, from the battle of Fredericksburg, 
in December, 1862, until the Army evacuated 
Falmouth and Acquia Creek to meet the sec- 
ond great invasion of Maryland, in June, 1863, 
lodges and homes had been maintained by 
the Commission near the Army at these points. 
These lodges were on the system of those already 
under way with vast results in Washington ; 
but their fields were even more varied. The 
chief of them was the lodge at Acquia Creek, 
where the disabled and discharged soldiers were 
sheltered and sent on their way, comforted, if 
not rejoicing; and where the very sick and 
wounded were received whilst waiting for the 
boats at the Landing, fed, lodged, nursed, and 
medically cared for. In many instances, also, 
the unhappy friends of wounded and dead or 
dying men were received, sheltered, and as- 
sisted in their inquiries. 

What became of the men who thus passed 
through this Lodge is told elsewhere, and noth- 
ing but a few little incidents connected with 
it can be mentioned here. 

Its daily routine was as follows : — By the 
evening it was filled to overflowing with pale 
and weary soldiers, who arrived too late to be 
taken in the boats which had left for Washing- 
ton, many on stretchers, and some accompanied 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 119 

by parents and friends. A large quantity of 
milk-punch was always on hand, and a liberal 
draught given to call up their flickering strength. 
A table was spread for the least suffering, who 
were served with good hot coffee, biscuit, and 
butter. 

In the evening the physician passed through 
and prescribed for those in need of him, and 
then they were put to rest for the night. At 
eight o'clock next morning the line was formed 
for the boat, each man with a blue ticket for 
" The Home," or a red ticket for " The Lodge" 
in Washington, and in many cases a bottle ol 
milk-punch or beef-essence, to keep up their 
strength on the way. Out of a thousand inci- 
dents occurring, each of equal interest, it is hard 
to select any to place here. The following 
are chosen as the shortest that can be found. 
" Seventy-five men were reported, at 10 a. m., as 
needing our care, having been left at the rail- 
road without shelter or food. Nine were taken 
to the Lodge, and a permit was obtained for the 
remainder to go to the ' Soldiers' Rest.' At 
8 p. M. they were again reported as having been 
in a car since two o'clock without food. Our 
force was again called out, and we supplied 
them with what they needed." " A man, shoe- 
less, shirtless, and stockingless, feet frost-bitten, 
and mind deranged, was brought to our Lodge, 
as the only refuge for the wanderer. We kept 
him nine days, ascertained his regiment, and 



120 THE UNITED STATES 

returned him for discharge." " A soldier picked 
up — typhoid fever — flighty. With the best 
of care, he died the next day." " At daylight 
another poor fellow fainted on the wharf, and 
fell into the water. When rescued he was 
nearly dead, — respiration and pulsation appar- 
ently ceased. Did everything possible, — re- 
warded by his recovery. He was dried, cleaned, 
and put into new warm under-clothes. Third 
case of the kind within a week." 

From December 25th, 1862, to April 1st, 1863, 
lodgings and food and succor were given at 
the Acquia Creek Lodge to over three thousand 
men. 

During all this winter " The Elizabeth " was 
plying between Washington and Acquia, carry^ 
ing up requisitions, and returning loaded with 
supplies. When this base of the Army was 
abandoned in the following June, and the Gov- 
ernment stores were brought off or destroyed, 
the Commission agents worked with a devotion 
which the country ought to know of, in bringing 
safely off" the country's gifts. They worked with- 
out rest for forty consecutive hours, with the great 
reward of knowing that not an article was lost. 

Second Invasion of Maryland and Pennsylva- 
nia. — The Army of the Potomac broke camp on 
the Rappahannock June 12th, 1863, the effective 
troops moving northwards by forced marches, 
and the sick and wounded being removed by 
rail to Acquia Creek, and thence to Washington. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 121 

A small part of the Commission's Potomac Re- 
lief Corps marched with the Army. They were 
frequently replenished with supplies from the 
depot at Washington, and daily rendered valu- 
able assistance to the surgeons having the care 
of men wounded in the skirmishes and in the 
cavalry engagements, as well as of those falling 
ill under the fatigues and privations of forced 
marches, undertaken in the heat of midsummer, 
in a dry and desolated region. 

On the retreat of General Milroy from "Win- 
chester, it was found that the supply of hospital 
stores at Harper's Ferry was very limited, and 
a relief agent was sent there with a wagon-load 
of supplies. This was got safely through, but 
the wagon on its return was captured by Stuart's 
cavalry. The Relief Agent, having remained at 
Harper's Ferry, escaped. The Commission's 
stores at Frederick were safely concealed dur- 
ing its occupation by the enemy, but so soon as 
the Army of the Potomac reached the cityj the 
depot was again opened and the stock increased. 
Responsible and experienced officers of the 
Commission were stationed at Harrisburg, Phil- 
adelphia, Baltimore, and Frederick, and a sys- 
tematic daily communication was established 
between them and the agents moving with the 
different columns of the Army. Supplies were 
accumulated, and held ready for movement at 
different points in the circumference of the seat of 
war, and care was taken to have ample reserves 
at the branch offices ready for shipment. 



122 THE U^^ITED STATES 

Battle of Gettysburg. — With the first news 
of the battle of Gettysburg, Westminster, the 
nearest point of raih'oad communication to the 
battle-field, was fixed upon as the point of ap- 
proach, and authority to run a car daily to that 
station was asked for and obtained. 

Two wagon-loads of battle-field supplies had 
been distributed to meet deficiencies in the stores 
of the surgeons, shortly before the battle com- 
menced. These wagons returned for more 
loads ; two others, fully loaded, arrived from 
Frederick at the moment of the assault of 
Longstreet upon the left wing of the loyal 
Army, and were pushed forward under fire^ to 
reach the collections of wounded in its rear. 
As one of them came up to a point where 
several hundred sufferers had been taken from 
the ambulances and laid upon the ground, be- 
hind a barn, less than five hundred yards in the 
rear of our line of battle then fiercely engaged, a 
surgeon was seen to throw up his arms exclaim- 
ing, "Thank God! here comes the Sanitary 
Commission ; now we shall be able to do some- 
thing." His supplies were exhausted, and the 
chloroform, lint, bandages, sponges, brandy, and 
beef-soup, which were at once given to him, were 
undoubtedly the means of saving many lives. 
The empty wagons which had gone back to 
Frederick were reloaded, and left again the same 
day. Dr. McDonald, Chief Commission Inspect- 
or on the field, conducted one of them by Em- 
metsburg; the other was sent by Winchester. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 123 

The latter got safely through ; but the former, 
with Dr. McDonald and the Rev. Mr. Scandlin, 
Relief Agent, fell into the hands of the enemy. 
These gentlemen were marched to Richmond 
as prisoners of war.* This misfortune, and the 
fact that Dr. McDonald was charged with all 
the field arrangements, caused some temporary 
embarrassment; but supplies of the Commission 
arrived from other directions before the close of 
the battle. 

A school-house centrally situated was taken 
as a depot, and thence eleven wagon-loads of 
special supplies were distributed to the corps 
hospitals, and to scattering groups of wounded 
on the field, long before any supplies arrived by 
railroad. As soon as the railroad was so far re- 
paired as to allow a train to approach within a 
mile of the town, two car-loads of most valuable 
goods were sent to the Commission, and two 
more by each succeeding train for a week. 

The wounded now began to be brought from 
the field to the railroad, for removal to fixed hos- 
pitals elsewhere. The Commission at once es- 
tablished a complete Relief Station on a large 
scale, at the terminus of the railroad ; — and here 
shall be given intact the story of " What ave did 
AT Gettysburg," written by the woman best 
fitted for the work, and best fitted to tell of it. 
She is now in a far distant hospital, and it is 
therefore not improper that this allusion to her 

* See Appendix H. 



124 THE UNITED STATES 

should be made. Her sense, energy, lightness 
and quickness of action ; her thorough knowledge 
of the work, her amazing yet simple resources, 
her shy humility which made her regard her own 
work with impatience, almost with contempt, — 
all this and much else has made the memory 

of a source of strength and tenderness 

which nothing can take away. 

''July, 1863. 

" Dear : 

" What we did at Gettysburg^ for the three 
weeks we were there, you will want to know. 

' We,' are Mrs. and I, who, happening 

to be on hand at the right moment, gladly fell 
in with the proposition to do what we could at 
the Sanitary Commission Lodge after the battle. 
Th6re were, of course, the agents of the Com- 
mission, already on the field, distributing sup- 
plies to the hospitals, and working night and day 
among the wounded. I cannot pretend to tell 
you what was done by all the big wheels of the 
concern, but only how two of the smallest ones 
went round, and what turned up in the going. 

" Twenty-four hours we were in making the 
journey between Baltimore and Gettysburg, 
places only four hours apart in ordinary running 
time ; and this will give you some idea of the 
difficulty there was in bringing up supplies when 
the fighting was over, and of the delays in trans- 
porting wounded. Coming toward the town at 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 125 

this crawling rate, we passed some fields where 
the fences were down and the ground slightly- 
tossed up : ' That 's where Kilpatrick's Cavalry- 
men fought the rebels,' some one said ; ' and close 
by that barn a rebel soldier was found day be- 
fore yesterday, sitting dead' — no one to help, 
poor soul, — ' near the whole city full.' The rail- 
road bridge broken up by the enemy, Govern- 
ment had not rebuilt as yet, and we stopped two 
miles from the town, to find that, as usual, just 
where the Government had left off the Commis- 
sion came in. There stood their temporary 
lodge and kitchen, and here, hobbling out of 
their tents, came the wounded men who had 
made their way down from the corps-hospitals, 
expecting to leave at once in the return-cars. 

" This is the way the thing was managed at 
first : The surgeons left in care of the wounded 
three or four miles out from the town, went up 
and down among the men in the morning, and 
said, ' Any of you boys who can make your 
way to the cars can go to Baltimore.' So off 
start all who think they feel well enough ; any- 
thing better than the ' hospitals,' so called, for 
the first few days after a battle. Once the men 
have the surgeons' permission to go, they are 
off; and there may be an interval of a day, or 
two days, should any of them be too weak to 
reach the train in time, during which these poor 
fellows belong to no one, — the hospital at one 
end, the railroad at the other, — with far more 



126 THE UNITED STATES 

than chance of falling through between the two. 
The Sanitary Commission knew this would be 
so of necessity, and, coming in, made a connect- 
ing link between these two ends. 

" For the first few days the worst cases only 
came down in ambulances from the hospitals ; 
hundreds of fellows hobbled along as best they 
could in heat and dust, for hours, slowly toiling ; 
and many hired farmers' wagons, as hard as the 
farmers' fists themselves, and were jolted down 
to the railroad, at three or four dollars the man. 
Think of the disappointment of a soldier, sick, 
body and heart, to find, at the end of this mis- 
erable journey, that his effort to get away, into 
which he had put all his remaining stock of 
strength, was useless ; that ' the cars had gone,' 
or ' the cars were full ' ; that while he was com- 
ing others had stepped down before him, and 
that he must turn all the weary way back again, 
or sleep on the roadside till the next train ' to- 
morrow ' ! Think what this would have been, 
and you are ready to appreciate the relief 
and comfort that was. No men were turned 
back. You fed and you sheltered them just 
when no one else could have done so ; and out 
of the boxes and barrels of good and nourishing 
things, which you people at home had supplied, 
we took all that was needed. Some of you sent 
a stove (that is, the money to get it), some of 
you the beef-stock, some of you the milk and 
fresh bread ; and all of you would have been 



SANITARY COmilSSION. 127 

thankful that you had done so, could you have 
seen the refreshment and comfort received 
through these things. 

" As soon as the men hobbled up to the tents, 
good hot soup was given all round; and that 
over, their wounds were dressed, — for the gen- 
tlemen of the Commission are cooks or sur- 
geons, as occasion demands, — and, finally, with 
their blankets spread over the straw, the men 
stretched themselves out and were happy and 
contented till morning, and the next train. 

" On the day that the railroad bridge was re- 
paired, we moved up to the depot, close by the 
town, and had things in perfect order; a first- 
rate camping-ground, in a large field directly by 
the track, with unlimited supply of delicious cool 
water. Here we set up two stoves, with four 
large boilers, always kept full of soup and coffee, 
watched by four or five black men, who did the 
cooking, under our direction, and sang (not un- 
der our direction) at the tops of their voices all 
day,— 

' Oh darkies, hab you seen my Massa ? ' 

' When this cruel war is oyer/ 

Then we had three large hospital tents, holding 
about thirty-five each, a large camp-meeting sup- 
ply-tent, where barrels of goods were stored, and 
our own smaller tent, fitted up with tables, where 
jelly-pots, and bottles of all kinds of good syrups, 
blackberry and black currant, stood in rows. 
Barrels were ranged round the tent-walls ; shirts, 



128 THE UNITED STATES 

drawers, dressing-gowns, socks, and slippers (I 
wish we had had more of the latter), rags and 
bandages, each in its own place on one side ; on 
the other, boxes of tea, coffee, soft crackers, tam- 
arinds, cherry brandy, &c. Over the kitchen, 
and over this small supply-tent, we women rather 
reigned, and filled up our wants by requisitions 
on the Commission's depot. By this time there 
had arrived a 'delegation ' of just the right kind 
from Canandaigua, N. Y., with surgeon's dressers 
and attendants, bringing a first-rate supply of 
necessities and comforts for the wounded, which 
they handed over to the Commission. 

" Twice a day the trains left for Baltimore or 
Harrisburg, and twice a day we fed all the 
wounded who arrived for them. Things were 
systematized now, and the men came down in 
long ambulance trains to the cars; baggage-cars 
they were, filled with straw for the wounded to 
lie on, and broken open at either end to let in the 
air. A Government surgeon was always present 
to attend to the careful lifting of the soldiers 
from ambulance to car. Many of the men could 
get along very nicely, holding one foot up, and 
taking great jumps on their crutches. The lat- 
ter were a great comfort; we had a nice supply 
at the Lodge ; and they travelled up and down 
from the tents to the cars daily. Only occasion- 
ally did we dare let a pair go on with some very 
lame soldier, who begged for them ; we needed 
them to help the new arrivals each day, and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 129 

trusted to the men being supplied at the hospi- 
tals at the journey's end. Pads and crutches are 
a standing want, — pads particularly. We man- 
ufactured them out of the rags we had, stuffed 
with sawdust from brandy-boxes ; and with half 

a sheet and some soft straw, Mrs. made 

a poor dying boy as easy as his sufferings would 
permit. Poor young fellow, he was so grateful 
to her for washing and feeding and comforting 
him. He was too ill to bear the journey, and 
went from our tent to the church hospital, and 
from the church to his grave, which would have 

been coffinless but for the care of ; for the 

Quartermaster's Department was overtaxed, 
and for many days our dead were simply 
wrapped in their blankets and put into the 
earth. It is a soldierly way, after all, of lying 
wrapped in the old war-worn blanket, — the 
little dust returned to dust. 

" When the surgeons had the wounded all 
placed, with as much comfort as seemed possi- 
ble under the circumstances, on board the train, 
our detail of men would go from car to car, 
with soup made of beef-stock or fresh meat, 
full of potatoes, turnips, cabbage, and rice, with 
fresh bread and coffee, and, when stimulants 
were needed, with ale, milk-punch, or brandy. 
Water-pails were in great demand for use in 
the cars on the journey, and also empty bot- 
tles to take the place of canteens. All our 
whisky and brandy bottles were washed and 



130 THE UNITED STATES 

filled up at the spring, and the boys went off 
carefully hugging their extemporized canteens, 
from which they would wet their wounds, or 
refresh themselves till the journey ended. I do 
not think that a man of the sixteen thousand 
who were transported during our stay, went 
from Gettysburg without a good meal. Rebels 
and Unionists together, they all had it, and 
were pleased and satisfied. ' Have you friends 
in the Army, madam ? ' a rebel soldier, lying on 
the floor of the car, said to me, as I gave him 

some milk. ' Yes, my brother is on 's 

staff.' ' I thought so, ma'am. You can always 
tell ; when people are good to soldiers they are 
sure to have friends in the Army.' * We are 
rebels, you know, ma'am,' another said. * Do 
you treat rebels so ? ' It was strange to see the 
good brotherly feeling come over the soldiers, 
our own and the rebels, when side by side they 
lay in our tents. ' Hullo, boys ! this is the 
pleasantest way to meet, is n't it ? We are bet- 
ter friends when we are as close as this than a 
little farther off.' And then they would go over 
the battles together, ' We were here,' and ' you 
were there,' in the friendliest way. 

" After each train of cars daily, for the three 
weeks we were in Gettysburg, trains of ambu- 
lances arrived too late, — men who must spend 
the day with us until the 5 p. m. cars went, and 
men too late for the 5 p. m. train, who must 
spend the night till the 10 a. m. cars went 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 131 

All the men who came in this way, under oui 
own immediate and particular attention, were 
given the best we had of care and food. The 
surgeon in charge of our camp, with his most 
faithful dresser and attendants, looked after all 
their wounds, which were often in a shocking 
state, particularly among the rebels. Every 
evening and morning they were dressed. Often 
the men would say, ' That feels good. I have n't 
had my wound so well dressed since I was hurt.' 
Something cool to drink is the first thing asked 
for after the long, dusty drive ; and pailfuls of 
tamarinds and water, ' a beautiful drink,' the 
men used to say, disappeared rapidly among 
them. 

" After the men's wounds were attended to, 
we went round giving them clean clothes ; had 
basins and soap and towels, and followed these 
with socks, slippers, shirts, drawers, and those 
coveted dressing-gowns. Such pride as they 
felt in them! comparing colors, and smiling all 
over as they lay in clean and comfortable rows, 
ready for supper, — '" on dress parade,' they used 
to say. And then the milk, particularly if it 
were boiled and had a little whisky and sugar, 
and the bread, with butter on it, and jelly on 
the butter: how good it all was, and how lucky 
we felt ourselves in having the immense satis- 
faction of distributing these things, which all of 
you, hard at work in villages and cities, were 
getting ready and sending off, in faith. 



132 THE UNITED STATES 

" Canandaigua sent cologne with its othei 
supplies, which went right to the noses and 
hearts of the men. ' That is good, now ' ; — ' I '11 
take some of that' ; — 'worth a penny a sniff' ; 
' that kinder gives one lif^ ' ; — aind so on, all 
round the tents, as we tipped the bottles up on 
the clean handkerchiefs some one had sent, and 
when they were gone, over squares of cotton, 
on which the perfume took the place of hem, — 
'just as good, ma'am.' We varied our din- 
ners with custard and baked rice puddings, 
scrambled eggs, codfish hash, corn-starch, and 
always as much soft bread, tea, coffee, or milk 
as they wanted. Two Massachusetts boys I 
especially remember for the satisfaction with 
which they ate their pudding. I carried a 
second plateful up to the cars, after they had 
been put in, and fed one of them till he was 
sure he had had enough. Young fellows they 
were, lying side by side, one with a right and 
one with a left arm gone. 

" The Gettysburg women were kind and faith- 
ful to the wounded and their friends, and the 
town was full to overflowing of both. The first 

day, when Mrs. and I reached the place, 

we literally begged our bread from door to 
door; but the kind woman who at last gave us 
dinner would take no pay for it. ' No, ma'am, 
I should n't wish to have that sin on my soul 
when the war is over.' She, as well as others, 
had fed the strangers flocking into town daily. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 133 

sometimes over fifty of them for each meal, and 
ail for love and nothing for reward ; and one 
night we forced a reluctant confession from our 
hostess that she was meaning to sleep on the 
floor that we might have a bed, her whole houst; 
being full. Of course we could n't allow this 
self-sacrifice, and hunted up some other place to 
stay in. We did her no good, however, for we 
afterwards found that the bed was given up that 
night to some other stranger who arrived late 
and tired : ' An old lady, you know ; and I 
could n't let an old lady sleep on the floor.' 
Such acts of kindness and self-denial were al- 
most entirely confined to the women. 

" Few good things can be said of the Gettys- 
burg farmers, and I only use Scripture language 
in calling them ' evil beasts.' One of this kind 
came creeping into our camp three weeks after 
the battle. He lived five miles only from the 
town, and had ' never seen a rebel.' He heard 
we had some of them, and came down to see 
them. ' Boys,' we said, — marching him into 
the tent which happened to be full of rebels 
that day, waiting for the train, — ' Boys, here 's a 
man who never saw a rebel in his life, and wants 
to look at you ' ; and there he stood with his 
mouth wide open, and there they lay in rows, 
laughing at him, stupid old Dutchman. ' And 

why have n't you seen a rebel ? ' Mrs. said ; 

* why did n't you take your gun and help to 
drive them out of your town ? ' 'A feller 



134 THE UNITED STATES 

might 'er got hit ! ' — which reply was quite too 
much for the rebels; they roared with laughter 
at him, up and down the tent. 

" One woman we saw, who was by no means 
Dutch, and whose pluck helped to redeem the 
other sex. She lived in a little house close up 
by the field where the hardest fighting was 
done, — a red-cheeked, strong, country girl. 
' Were you frightened when the shells began 
flying ? ' ' Well, no. You see we was all 
a-baking bread round here for the soldiers, and 
had our dough a-rising. The neighbors they 
ran into their cellars, but I could n't leave my 
bread. When the first shell came in at the 
window and crashed through the room, an offi- 
cer came and said, " You had better get out of 
this " ; but I told him I could not leave my bread ; 
and I stood working it till the third shell came 
through, and then I went down cellar; but' (tri- 
umphantly) ' I left my bread in the oven.' ' And 
why did n't you go before ? ' ' Oh, you see, if 
I had, the rebels would 'a' come in and daubed 
the dough all over the place.' And here she 
had stood, at the risk of unwelcome plums in 
her loaves, while great holes (which we saw) 
w^ere made by shot and shell through and 
through the room in which she was working. 

" The streets of Gettysburg were filled with 
the battle. People thought and talked of noth- 
ing else ; even the children showed their little 
spites by calling to each other, ' Here, you 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 130 

rebel ' ; and mere scraps of boys amused them- 
selves with percussion-caps and hammers. Hun- 
dreds of old muskets were piled on the pave- 
ments, the men who shouldered them a week 
before lying underground now, or helping to fill 
the long trains of ambulances on their way from 
the field. The private houses of the town were, 
many of them, hospitals ; the little red flags 
hung from the upper windows. Beside our 
own men at the Lodge, we all had soldiers scat- 
tered about whom we could help from our sup- 
plies ; and nice little puddings and jellies, or an 
occasional chicken, were a great treat to men 
condemned by their wounds to stay in Gettys- 
burg and obliged to live on what the empty 
town could provide. There was a colonel in a 
shoe-shop, a captain just up the street, and a 
private round the corner whose young sister 
had possessed herself of him, overcoming the 
military rules in some way, and carrying him 
off to a little room, all by himself, where I found 
her doing her best with very little. She came 
afterward to our tent and got for him clean 
clothes, and good food, and all he wanted, and 
was perfectly happy in being his cook, washer- 
woman, medical cadet, and nurse. Beside such 
as these, we occasionally carried from our sup- 
plies something to the churches, which were 
filled with sick and wounded, and where men 
were dying, — men whose strong patience it was 
very hard to bear, — dying with thoughts of the 



13G THE UNITED STATES 

old home far away, saying, as last words, for 
the woman watching there and waiting with a 
patience equal in its strength, ' Tell her I love 
her.' 

" Late one afternoon, too late for the cars, a 
train of ambulances arrived at our Lodge with 
over one hundred wounded rebels, to be cared 
for through the night. Only one among them 
seemed too weak and faint to take anything. 
He was badly hurt, and failing. I went to him 
after his wound was dressed, atid found him ly- 
ing on his blanket stretched over the straw, — a 
fair-haired, blue-eyed young lieutenant, with a 
face innocent encTugh for one of our own New 
England boys. I could not think of him as a 
rebel ; he was too near heaven for that. He 
wanted nothing, — had not been willing to eat 
for days, his comrades said ; but I coaxed him 
to try a little milk gruel, made nicely with lemon 
and brandy ; and one of the satisfactions of our 
three weeks is the remembrance of the empty 
cup I took away afterward, and his perfect en- 
joyment of that supper. ' It was so good, the 
best thing he had had since he w^as wounded,' — 
and he thanked me so much, and talked about 
his ' good supper ' for hours. Poor fellow, he had 
had no care, and it was a surprise and pleasure 
to find himself thought of; so, in a pleased, 
childlike way, he talked about it till midnight, 
the attendant told me, as long as he spoke of 
anything; for at midnight the change came, and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 137 

from that time he only thought of the old days 
before he was a soldier, when he sang hymns in 
his father's church. He sang them now again, 
in a clear, sweet voice. ' Lord, have mercy 
upon me'; and then songs v^ithout words — a 
sort of low intoning. His father was a Lu- 
theran clergyman in South Carolina, one of the 
rebels told us in the morning, when we went into 
the tent, to find him sliding out of our care. All 
day long we watched him, — sometimes fighting 
his battles over, often singing his Lutheran 
chants, till, in at the tent-door, close to which 
he lay, looked a rebel soldier, just arrived with 
other prisoners. He started when he saw the 
lieutenant, and quickly kneeling down by him, 
called ' Henry ! Henry! ' But Henry was look- 
ing at some one a great way off, and could 
not hear him. * Do you know this soldier ? ' 
we said. ' Oh, yes, ma'am ; and his brother 
is wounded and a prisoner, too, in the cars 
now.' Two or three men started after him, 
found him, and half carried him from the cars 
to our tent. ' Henry ' did not know him, 
though ; and he threw himself down by his side 
on the straw, and for the rest of the day lay in a 
sort of apathy, without speaking, except to as- 
sure himself that he could stay with his brother, 
without the risk of being separated from his fel- 
low-prisoners. And there the brothers lay, and 
there we strangers sat watching and listening 
to the strong, clear voice, singing ' Lord, have 



138 THE UNITED STATES 

mercy upon me.* The Lord had mercy: and 
at sunset I put my hand on the lieutenant's 
heart, to find it still. All night the brother lay 
close against the coffin, and in the morning 
went away with his comrades, leaving us to 
bury Henry, having 'confidence'; but first 
thanking us for what we had done, and giving 
us all that he had to show his gratjtude, — the 
palmetto ornament from his brother's cap and 
a button from his coat. Dr. W. read the burial 

service that morning at the grave, and 

wrote his name on the little head-board : ' Lieut. 
Rauch, 14th Regt. S. Carolina Vol.' 

"In the field where we buried him, a number 
of colored freedmen, working for Government 
on the railroad, had their camp, and every night 
they took their recreation, after the heavy work 
of the day was over, in prayer-meetings. Such 
an ' inferior race,' you know ! We went over 
one night and listened for an hour, while they 
sang, collected under the fly of a tent, a table in 
the middle where the leader sat, and benches all 
round the sides for the congregation, — men 
only, — all very black and very earnest. They 
prayed with all their souls, as only black men 
and slaves can ; for themselves and for the dear, 
white people who had come over to the meeting ; 
and for ' Massa Lincoln,' for whom they seemed 
to have a reverential affection, — some of them 
a sort of worship, which confused Father Abra- 
nam and Massa Abraham in one general cry for 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 139 

blessings. Whatever else they asked for, they 
must have strength and comfort and blessing 
for ' Massa Lincoln.' Very little care was 
taken of these poor men. Those who were ill 
during our stay were looked after by one of the 
officers of the Commission. They were grateful 

for every little thing. Mrs. went into the 

town and hunted up several dozen bright hand- 
kerchiefs, hemmed them, and sent them over to 
be distributed the next night after meeting. 
They were put on the table in the tent, and, 
one by one, the men came up to get them. 
Purple and blue and yellow the handkerchiefs 
were, and the desire of every man's heart fas- 
tened itself on a yellow one ; they politely made 
way for each other, though, — one man standing 
back to let another pass up first, althougli he 
ran the risk of seeing the particular pumpkin- 
color that riveted his eyes taken from before 
them. When the distribution was over, each 
man tied his head up in his handkerchief, and 
they sang one more hymn, keeping time all 
round, with blue and purple and yellow nods, 
and thanking and blessing the white people in 
* their basket and in their store,' as much as if 
the cotton handkerchiefs had all been gold leaf. 
One man came over to our tent next day, to 
say, ' Missus, was it you who sent me that 
present? I never had anything so beautiful in 
all my life before ' ; and he only had a blue 
one, too. 



140 THE UNITED STATES 

" Among our wounded soldiers, one night, 
came an elderly man, sick, wounded, and crazy, 
singing and talking about home. We did what 
we could for him, and pleased him greatly with 
a present of a red flannel shirt, drawers, and red 
calico dressing-gown, all of which he needed, 
and in which he dressed himself up, and then 
wrote a letter to his wife, made it into a little 
book with gingham covers, and gave it to one 
of the gentlemen to mail for him. The next 
morning he was sent on with the company from 
the Lodge ; and that evening two tired women 
came into our camp, — his wife and sister, who 
hurried on from their home to meet him, arriving 
just too late. Fortunately we had the queer 
little gingham book to identify him by, and 
when some one said, ' It is the man, you know, 
who screamed so,' the poor wife was certain 
about him. He had been crazy before the war, 
but not for two years, now, she said. He had 
been fretting for home since he was hurt; and 
when the doctor told him there was no chance 
of his being sent there, he lost heart, and wrote 
to his wife to come and carry him away. It 
seemed almost hopeless for two lone women, 
who had never been out of their own little town, 
to succeed in finding a soldier among so many, 
sent in so many different directions ; but we 
helped them as we could, and started them on 
their journey the next morning, back on their 
track, to use their common sense and Yankee 
privilege of questioning. 



SANITARY. COMMISSION. 14:1 

" A week after, Mrs. had a letter fall of 

gratitude, and saying that the husband was 
found and secured for home. That same night 
we had had in our tents two fathers, with their 
wounded sons, and a nice old German mother 
with her boy. She had come in from Wiscon- 
sin, and brought with her a patchwork bed- 
quilt for her son, thinking he might have lost 
his blanket ; and there he laid all covered up in 
his quilt, looking so homelike, and feeling so, 
too, no doubt, with his good old mother close at 
his side. She seemed bright and happy, — had 
three sons in the Army, — one had been killed, — 
this one wounded ; yet she was so pleased with 
the tents, and the care she saw taken there of 
the soldiers, that, while taking her tea from a 
barrel-head as table, she said, ' Indeed, if she 
was a man, she 'd be a soldier, too, right off.' 

" For this temporary sheltering and feeding of 
all these wounded men. Government could make 
no provision. There was nothing for them, if too 
late for the cars, except the open field and han- 
ger, in preparation for their fatiguing journey. 
It is expected when the cars are ready that the 
men will be promptly sent to meet them, and 
Government cannot provide for mistakes and 
delays ; so that, but for the Sanitary Commis- 
sion's Lodge and comfortable supplies, for which 
the wounded are indebted to the hard workers 
at home, men badly hurt must have suffered 
night and day, while waiting for the ' next 



142 THE UI^ITED STATES 

train.' We had on an average sixty of such men 
each night for three weeks under our care, — 
sometimes one hundred^ sometimes only thirty 
and with the ' delegation,' and the help of other 
gentlemen volunteers, who all worked devotedly 
for the men, the whole thing was a great suc- 
cess, and you and all of us can't help being 
thankful that w^e had a share, however small, 
in making it so. Sixteen thousand good meals 
were given ; hundreds of men kept through the 
day, and twelve hundred sheltered at night, 
their wounds dressed, their supper and breakfast 
secured — rebels and all. You will not, I am 
sure, regret that these most wretched men, these 
' enemies,' ' sick and in prison,' were helped 
and cared for through your supplies, though, 
certainly, they were not in your minds when 
you packed your barrels and boxes. The cloth- 
ing we reserved for our own men, except now 
and then w^hen a shivering rebel needed it ; but 
in feeding them we could make no distinctions. 
'^ Our three weeks were coming to an end ; the 
work of transporting the wounded was nearly 
over ; twice daily we had filled and emptied our 
tents, and twice fed the trains before the long 
journey. The men came in slowly at the last, — 
a lieutenant, all the way from Oregon, being 
among the very latest. He came down from 
the corps hospitals (now greatly improved), 
having lost one foot, poor fellow, dressed in a 
full suit of the Commission's cotton clothes, 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 1 13 

just as bright and as cheerful as the first man, 
and all the men that we received had been. We 
never heard a complaint. * Would he like a 
little nice soup ? ' * Well, no, thank you, 
ma'am ' ; hesitating and polite. ' You have a 
long ride before you, and had better take a 
little ; I'll just bring it and you can try.' So 
the good, thick soup came. He took a very 
little in the spoon to please me, and afterwards 
the whole cupful to please himself. He ' did 
not think it was this kind of soup I meant. He 
had some in camp, and did not think he cared 
for any more ; his " cook " was a very small boy, 
though, who just put some meat in a little water 
and stirred it round.' ' Would you like a 
handkerchief?' and I produced our last one, 
with a hem and cologne too. ' Oh yes ; that 
is what I need ; I have lost mine, and was just 
borrowing this gentleman's.' So the lieuten- 
ant, the last man, was made comfortable, thanks 
to all of you, though he had but one foot to 
carry him on his long journey home. 

" Ffpuv thousand soldiers, too badly hurt to be 
moved, were still left in Gettysburg, cared for 
kindly and well at the large, new Government 
hospital, with a Sanitary Commission attach- 
ment. 

" Our work was over, our tents were struck, 
and we came away after a flourish of trumpets 
from two military bands who filed down to our 
door, and gave us a farewell Red, white, and 
blue.' " 



144 THE UNITED STATES 

During the battle all the wounded were gath- 
ered into field hospitals, as most convenient. 
Soon they were divided into corps hospitals 
in the field, from which those who were able to 
be removed to a distance were brought to the 
railroad depot, where the Sanitary Commis- 
sion had large tents erected for their reception 
and refreshment during the interval of the de- 
parture of trains morning and evening. 

Large store-tents of the Commission were 
also at hand, filled to repletion with all manner 
of supplies. A cook-house was put up with 
caldrons and stoves and a steam apparatus, 
all of which were in full blast, day and night. 
Ten cooks and some thirty attendants were 
occupied in preparing and dealing out to each 
sufferer such nourishment as the case allowed. 
Clothes, shoes, crutches, canes, pads, pillows, 
splints, lint, bandages, and every kind of stim- 
ulant, and anodyne, and every appliance which 
long experience and thoughtful care could antici- 
pate for so extreme a necessity, were dealt out 
with unsparing diligence and attention, day and 
night. Not the least important part of the work 
which the Commission performed at this Depot- 
liodge was the dressing of wounds, preparatory 
to a removal in the cars. In this department a 
surgeon and a corps of dressers were employed, 
who devoted their entire attention to the exam- 
ination of each case, applying fresh dressings 
and preparing the wounded to sustain the jour- 
ney to the best advantage. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 145 

The trains were despatched either to Eliza- 
bethport (their living freight to take boat there 
for David's Island) or direct to Baltimore. With 
each train went a surgeon and attendants in 
charge of the wounded. Large cans of iced 
water, bags of crackers, stimulants, &c., were 
placed on board the cars to supply every neces- 
sity. Generally, before leaving, each canteen 
was filled with water, and each man furnished 
with an extra cup of coffee, or soup, or with broth, 
as they desired. This system was continued from 
the 9th of July till the corps hospitals were 
relieved of all who were able to be removed 
to a distance. Those that remained, therefore, 
were only the desperate cases of amputation, 
compound fracture, and penetrating wounds of 
the chest and pelvis. These were collected with 
the utmost care, many of them on stretchers, 
from miles around, and placed under the three 
hundred tents which constitute Camp Letter- 
man Hospital ; which contained, in truth, the 
very dregs of battle from two armies. 

The Sanitary Commission station, under the 
charge of one who, whether as pastor or in the 
field, works with strength and a single mind^ 
was here established. The large tents of his 
mission were spread beneath tall oaks and hick- 
orys. One of them was the lodging-place of 
thirty persons ; the rest, some six or eight, were 
occupied as store-tents and offices. There was 
also a kitchen from which many of the sick and 

10 



146 . THE UNITED STATES 

wounded received the lighter diet which was 
prescribed or allowed by the surgeons. This 
was under the direction of ladies, two of whom 
remained there for several months. 

The surgeons of this post, deeply impressed 
with the services of the Sanitary Commission, 
have given a marked testimony of their feelings 
to the Rev. Dr. Winslow, the Inspector who is 
stationed there : —^ 

" Camp Letteeman Hospital, Gettysburg, 

^^ August 20th, 1863. 

" The undersigned. Surgeons and Assistant- 
Surgeons of the General Hospitals near Gettys- 
burg, take pleasure in expressing our gratifica- 
tion at the manner in which the affairs of 
the United States Sanitary Commission have 
been managed since the late battle. The sup- 
plementary articles for the sick and wounded 
have been abundant, comprising every requisite 
which the exigency demanded, and which noth- 
ing but a well-regulated system, with much 
experience and forethought, could have secured. 

"We are furthermore convinced that the system 
adopted by the Commission, of disbursing their 
supplies only on the requisition of a surgeon, is 
the only proper and safe method. Any other 
method necessarily supposes an extra force, 
which is calculated to cumber the hospital with 
irresponsible attendants, distract the public ben- 
efactions, if not divert them, from a just and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 147 

equal distribution among the patients for whom 
they were intended. 

" Henry Janes, &arg. U. S. V., in charge Hos- 
pitals at Gettysburg. 

E. W. Chamberlain, Surg. U. S. V., in 
charge General Hospital. 

S. W. Oakley, Surg. U. S. A., Medical 
Purveyor. 

Albert B. Stonelake, Surg. U. S. A., in 
charge 7th Division. 

J. D. Osborne, Surg. U. S. V., 4th Regt. 
N. Jersey Vols. 

W. F. Bradley, Asst Surg, 16th Regt. Mich. 
Vols. 

H. C. May, Asst Surg. 145th Regt. N. Y. V. 

J. B. Sturtevant, Asst. Surg. Penn. Vols. 

Charles D. Gauntt, M. D., A. A. S., U. S. A. 

B. F. Butcher, M. D., 

S. A. Mc Arthur, M. D., 

W. L. Hayr, M. D., 

H. H. Sutton, M. D., 

E. P. Townsend, M. D., 

D. R. Good, M. D., 

P. S. Leisenring, M. D., 



This is the last record of a great field-work 
still going on with the Army which is so dear to 
us — the noble Army of the Potomac ! — but to- 
day the Sanitary Commission is in closer rela- 
tions with that Army than ever before. 

Immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, 



148 THE UNITED STATES 

the General Secretary prepared a plan for a 
" Field Relief Corps," which has since been 
admirably organized by the Chief Inspector, 
Dr. Steiner, and the Field Superintendent, Mr. 
Johnson. Each army corps is supplied with a 
relief agent, who lives with it and moves with 
it. He has a four-horse wagon, amply sup- 
plied and kept supplied with stores, travelling 
usually with the ambulance train. These 
stores are issued, as usual, to the field hos- 
pitals, on the requisitions of the medical offi- 
cers. The relief agents are men of high 
character : one of them has been well known 
and valued as a colonel in the army, another 
as a clergyman in California, who resigned his 
work to give himself to his country through 
that channel which his heart and mind most 
approved. These agents are welcomed as co- 
laborers in the great war of Law and Right, by 
the officers of the army, medical and military. 
They furnish the needed articles just where and 
as they are needed, and often personally super- 
intend their distribution, keeping an eye on the 
proper use of what they have issued. While 
laboring for the good of the whole Army, each 
feels some special pride in seeing that his own 
special corps or family is kept in the best possi- 
ble condition. The oneness of the Commission 
with the Government, — its thorough coopera- 
tion with the officers of the Army — working witli 
them, — gives to its agents power and facilities 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 149 

which cannot be detailed here. They know 
what is needed, and, knowing it, they supply it. 
Any one who has seen, as the writer has, the 
waste of indiscriminate giving, will readily un- 
derstand the cheapness and directness of this 
work of the Commission. 

Another feature is its promptness and its 
availability. The requisitions of surgeons will 
show that, at the battle of Gettysburg, the Com- 
mission distributed its stores under fire ; but it 
does not need the incitement of such scenes. 
Life and suffering are to be saved incessantly. 
The work of the battle-field can be told to the 
country, as the routine work cannot ; but the 
ardor of the Commission agents is the same in 
both, for the incitements of humanity are the 
same. The following extract, which is in point, 
is from a report of the Agent of the 2d Army 
Corps, which held the advance in a late move- 
ment on Culpepper. He says: — "During the 
last two weeks of movement, I have the satis- 
faction of knowing that my wagon was always 
ahead of any other means of relief, and therefore 
doing a work which could not otherwise have 
been done. I dispensed relief to wounded cav- 
alry from the front, within an hour after their 
wounds were received ; and gave out stores at 
Culpepper long before other supplies had arrived. 
As we were in motion, I passed out articles to 
surgeons coming down with ambulances from 
the front. I believe this was the case with the 



150 THE UNITED STATES ' 

relief agents of other corps. I am satisfied 
that the Commission on the late march was 
brought to the notice of some as a working in- 
stitution, who never saw it before." 

The Medical Inspector of the Army of the 
Potomac says : — " We could not do without 
the Sanitary Commission " ; — and the jMedical 
Director of that Army adds, " It gives no trou- 
ble, — there is no interference." That, indeed, 
is its strength. It is supplemental in spirit and 
in act. Thus it has a position of its own ; it 
has become an indispensable portion of the or- 
ganization of the Army, working at its proper 
task, avoiding all interference with rules and 
regulations, — nay, respecting and maintaining 
them. Has it, or has it not, fulfilled its pledges 
to the Government? And has it, or has it not, 
won a position in the confidence of the officers, 
which has given it a usefulness it could not 
otherwise have obtained ? 

By a system of weekly reports to the Chief 
Inspector for the Army of the Potomac, the lat- 
ter is able to control the whole movement of the 
Field Relief Corps, and to keep up a complete 
knowledge of the perfection or imperfection of 
the machinery employed. 

In concluding this little sketch, the belief must 
be expressed that in this field the Commission 
is doing all that could be expected of it. Its 
officers are working with a quiet enthusiasm 
which could not be obtained by money nor by 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 151 

any other reward. Each one knows that he is 
working in something which has become indis- 
pensable to the country and to the war ; and 
each one employed feels that he shall look back 
hereafter with incalculable pleasure to the fact 
that he once labored in its ranks. 

But this portion of the story must close. The 
reader is assured that the character and effi- 
ciency of the work have been no more than indi- 
cated. And yet, from what is here told perhaps 
the question can be answered, Has the Sanitary 
Commission justified the confidence of the peo- 
ple ? or has it not ? 

AEMIES OF THE WEST. 

The insufficiency of the following sketch of 
the work of the Sanitary Commission in this 
Department is felt so keenly, that the reader is 
requested to bear in mind that it gives no just 
idea of what has been done ; it is, in fact, a mere 
sketch of fragments of the work, — a mere allu- 
sion to the vast and manifold sources of supply. 
The reason for this must be found in the fact 
that the subject has not been fully reported in 
detail to the central government of the Com- 
mission. When those details have been collect- 
ed, and the history of the Sanitary Commission 
shall have been written, it will be seen how the 
West has borne her magnificent part in the na- 
tional work of relief and mercy. 

It has already been shown that the women in 



152 THE UNITED STATES 

that division of our country were among the 
first to rise in the common cause, as they were 
among the first to recognize with those at the 
East the wants of their ignorance, and to seek 
and accept the Sanitary Commission. From 
their geographical position they have enjoyed 
one great advantage over their Eastern sisters. 
They have been personally, as it were, in the 
very centres of the suffering which they sought 
to relieve. From this cause it may be that 
there have been amongst them less doubt of the 
good ; less disposition to put faith in stories 
which have hindered that good; less delibera- 
tion in giving themselves to the cause ; a hear- 
tier energy in the work. From the same cause 
may have proceeded some deficiencies in work- 
ing out the great Federal principle of the Com- 
mission, — in detail of work, however, not in the 
spirit of Union ; which is to the full as strong 
in the Valley of the Mississippi as in the Atlan- 
tic regions. 



The Mississippi River, the channel between 
the northern Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, 
has been the great object of the struggle 
between the loyal and disloyal armies of the 
West. 

Illinois, by her geographical position, was the 
chief State to profit by that bountiful provision 
of nature which united Lake Michigan to the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 153 

Gulf of Mexico, and brought the city of Chi- 
cago into close relationship with the city of New 
Orleans. This State, alive to the importance 
of securing a communication of so much con- 
sequence to her wealth and enterprise, eagerly 
endeavored to prevent the rupture of the Federal 
Union. Her troops accepted the call to arms, 
and soon held in force the little city of Cairo, at 
that time the most important strategic point at 
the West. It stands on the extreme south of 
Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi rivers, as Chicago stands nearly due 
north at the other extremity of the State, upon 
the shores of Lake Michigan. Cairo thus com- 
mands the navigation of both rivers. It was 
the key to the Northwest, and the chief source 
of our power in the struggle which was to take 
place in Missouri ; but it was thrust like a wedge 
into the heart of doubtful districts, and there was 
great danger that the disloyal in Missouri, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee might gain possession of it. 
Here, then, the shadows of war began to fall, 
and the Sanitary Commission, quickly upon their 
track, began its work. Within a week after the 
organization of the Commission, its President 
started for this and other military centres in the 
West, on a mission of preliminary inspection. 
Before the end of June other inspections had 
been made in a thorough manner, under the 
direction of Dr. Aigner, showing a great and 
unexpected need amongst the troops; and the 



154 THE UNITED STATES 

Branch Commissions at Chicago in Illinois, 
and Cleveland in Ohio, so soon as they were 
formed, began to distribute stores to the sick in 
camp and hospital at Cairo, Paducah, Mound 
City, Bird's Point, St. Louis, and at other places 
in the interior of Missouri. 

It is interesting to notice in the reports of these 
societies that the first actual work brought out 
the instinct of central organization, to collect 
stores and economize the efforts of their States, 
and then the instinct to reach out into some- 
thing Federal. 

In the history of the rebellion, Missouri was 
one of the last among the insurgent States to 
lift her hand against the Federal Government. 
The clouds which gathered here in the early 
spring, rose and broke into a storm in May, 
1861, w^hen the attack was made on the arsenal 
at St. Louis; and Captain Lyon was ready for 
the emergency. This was the beginning of ac- 
tive military operations ; the rebel General Price 
retreating finally towards Booneville, where a 
stand was made, and a battle fought and won 
by General Lyon. Meanwhile another division 
under General Sigel met the enemy at Car- 
thage, after which occurred the battle of Wil- 
son's Creek, where General Lyon was killed, 
and General Sigel took command of the Army. 
Later came the siege and fall of Lexington, 
which ended the campaign; and then the" Fed- 
eral troops were at once disbanded. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 155 

General Fremont assumed command of the 
Department and organized a new army in the 
autumn of 1861. He left St. Louis, compel- 
led Price to evacuate Lexington, and marched 
southward, day and night, towards Springfield, 

— a forced march which had a terrible and fatal 
effect upon the health of the troops. Here Gen- 
eral Hunter superseded General Fremont, and, 
after remaining at Springfield until Nov. 13, 
the army marched back over the same road it 
had just so laboriously and fruitlessly passed. 
At this point the United States Sanitary Com- 
mission began its work in this Department, of 
which General Halleck had taken the command. 
General Hunter being sent to Kansas. 

The Inspectors of the Commission, Drs. Doug- 
las and Warriner, found the Army in and around 
St. Louis. The condition of the troops, and the 
influences affecting that condition, which were 
found in Camp Benton, in Benton Barracks, 
in Camp Lamine, at Rolla, and elsewhere, are 
carefully and vividly portrayed in the reports of 
the Inspectors. The troops had returned from 
their fruitless marches, wearied, exhausted, dis- 
heartened, and distrustful ; and in this condition 
they fell a prey to disease, especially to measles, 

— some regiments being almost wholly upon 
the sick-list. The wants of these men were 
very great. No sheets, pillow-cases, nor hos- 
pital shirts were supplied, until the Sanitary 
Commission arrived. Soon afterwards, how- 



156 THE UNITED STATES 

ever, their condition greatly improved, and 
their wants were fully inquired into and re- 
lieved by the " United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion," and by the " Western Sanitary Com- 
mission," — a society not at all connected with 
the United States Sanitary Commission, and 
founded at St. Louis, in Sept. 1861.* There 
were at this time fifteen general and post hos- 
pitals in and around that city. These were all 
visited, inspected, and aided with advice and 
supplies. The military hospitals in the city 
of St. Louis had been, as it were, founded by 
the Western Commission, with the approval 
and cooperation of the United States Medical 
Director then at the head of that Department. 
These hospitals were fully equipped by that 
society, aided by abundant supplies received 
firom the East, and to them the sick were daily 
brought from camps and post hospitals. The 
latter, which extended along the whole line of 
the late marches, were very destitute, and to them 
the United States Sanitary Commission turned 
its attention, supplying at once their immediate 
wants, which were found to be very great in- 
deed. The system of the Sanitary Commission, 

* Although the " United States Sanitary Commission " had 
some reason to complain of the manner in which the "Western 
Sanitary Commission " assumed its name, and used advan- 
tages which belonged to it, yet nothing has ever influenced it 
to hold back from a warm acknowledgment of the great work 
which the Western Commission has performed on its own 
field. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 157 

in the field, is to give supplies in small quanti- 
ties as they are needed. Surgeons in the field 
carry but little, or they are seriously embar- 
rassed. If they have much on hand, it must be 
left behind as the Army advances. Just as these 
regiments were thus supplied, their needs began 
to be known abroad, and independent supplies 
came down to them. At this moment the 
Army moved, and a great deal of property was 
therefore lost, or returned to its donors. But 
the Sanitary Commission had the satisfaction 
of knowing that its supplies, judiciously timed 
and judiciously measured, had not met with 
any such waste or disappointment. 

The sickness throughout the winter was of a 
depressing kind, and the mortality alarming. 
The inspections of the Commission show clearly 
that this resulted from the disheartening in- 
fluences of retreat, malarious camp-sites, ab- 
sence of proper camp police, badly ventilated 
tents, barracks, &c., &c. An entire revolution, 
however, took place in the post hospitals at Tip- 
ton, Syracuse, Otterville, and Sedalia, after the 
arrival of the Commission. When the Army be- 
gan its movement into the interior of the State, 
the agents of the United States Commission, fur- 
nished with supplies from the Eastern Branches, 
went with it. They found it necessary to take 
precautions that those supplies should not go 
to places already abundantly provided. This 
caused some special and even laborious inspec- 



158 THE UNITED STATES 

tion and work ; but they were successful enough 
to say, "We have the satisfaction of knowing that 
every article has been placed by us where it was 
needed. To such places as would not other- 
wise have been reached, we have during this 

month issued 6000 articles We have 

been treated with the greatest courtesy, our sug- 
gestions have been listened to, and, where we 
advised, our advice has been acted upon." 



In Western Virginia, that portion of the 
State bounded on the east by the Alleghany 
mountains, on the north and west by the free 
States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and on the 
South by the Kanawha Valley, watered by the 
river of that name which empties into the Ohio, — 
were many geographical and social character- 
istics which allied it to the North, and kept it 
in the commencement of the struggle from sym- 
pathy with secession. The people strove to 
establish their territory as a State, separated from 
the seceded Old Dominion. They assembled 
at Wheeling, and Union military companies 
were formed throughout the loyal district, pre- 
pared to resist the advance of troops in arms for 
the rebellion. The first encounter took place at 
Clarksburg, — a bloodless opening to the bloody 
history of war upon the soil of the grand old 
State, whose hereditary instincts should have 
kept her safe from joining in outrage upon her 
country. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 159 

To sustain Western Virginia in her struggle 
of principle, the Army then collecting in Ohio 
under General McClellan moved into her 
borders, effected a junction with her troops at 
Grafton, and then opened that successful cam- 
paign, which, in a military point of view, was 
the first and perhaps the most brilliant glory of 
our arms. Here, too, the Sanitary Commission 
was present Inspectors and supplies came 
from the East and the West. Its first depot was 
at Wheeling, Virginia, under charge of Dr. 
Griswold ; and in September every camp and 
hospital in the department (Cheat Mountain 
excepted) had been inspected, reported on, and 
systematically supplied, according to their needs, 
from the central depot at Washington, and from 
the branch depots at Cincinnati and Cleveland. 
On the records of the latter branch we find how 
the grateful acknowledgments received for this 
aid stimulated the work, and steadily increased 
the interest of those from whom it collected its 
supplies. 

The work performed by the Commission in 
this campaign was well done. It was not upon 
the scale of the great relief which afterwards 
marched on, but from the following item it will 
be seen that its work was responsible and sys- 
tematic. A despatch comes from General Rose- 
crans to the quartermaster at Wheeling, to 
prepare a hospital for 500 men. The quarter- 
master telegraphs at once, " Send on the sick " ; 



ICO THE UNITED STATES 

and then, without further anxiety, he turns over 
the General's despatch to the Sanitary Commis- 
sion. There was no alternative but for the In- 
spector to do his best. The battle at Gauley 
was imminent; communication was cut off; and 
duty to the Commanding General, as well as to 
humanity, required that every efFoi^t should be 
made. He went to work, procured a building, 
furnished it, and in three days received his 
patients into comfortable beds, supplied them 
well with everything except sufficient medical 
care, (he was the only available medical officer,) 
and, on the second day after their arrival, he 
writes, " To-night the hospital is as cheerful as 
a large hotel." 

The battle of Gauley Bridge and the defeat 
of Floyd by General Rosecrans ended the cam- 
paign, and the Army soon after went into win- 
ter quarters. Our troops continued to hold 
Cheat Mountain, but the greater part of them 
were sent under General Reynolds to Kentucky, 
or to service on the Potomac. 



Kentucky, in her efforts to withstand the tide 
of disloyalty, which disgraced, alas! even her 
noble manhood, came into the struggle of arms 
first under General Anderson, and next under 
General Buell. 

If our hearts bleed as we remember the tradi- 
tions of Virginia, disowned and disgraced, much 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 161 

more are they wrung by the living anguish of 
Kentucky. Son against father, and father 
against son, — perhaps no people have given to 
their country sacrifices like hers. 

Troops poured in to her assistance from Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and 
the loyal districts of Tennessee. Under Gen- 
eral Buell they advanced in five divisions, each 
with a special purpose, until they concentrated 
on the Cumberland River. Careful inspection 
was made of each division ; supplies for the sick 
and wounded reached them from the Branches 
at Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and De- 
troit; and, at the battle of Mill Spring, the 
Sanitary Commission found its appropriate 
work upon the " dark and bloody ground." 



The defeat of the enemy in Kentucky opened 
the way to those combined expeditions by land 
and water which had been long maturing at St. 
Louis, Cairo, and Paducah, under the direction 
of General Halleck. 

The enemy had striven to secure command 
of the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland 
rivers, by the construction of forts upon their 
banks. Of these, Columbus on the Mississippi, 
Fort Donelson on the Tennessee, and Fort Hen- 
ry on the Cumberland, were the most formi- 
dable. The last of these was captured without 
loss early in the month of February, 1862 ; and 
11 



162 THE UNITED STATES 

on the 15th of February, Fort Donelson, after 
a bloody resistance, fell into our hands. 

The history of the Sanitary Commission at 
Fort Donelson is this : — 

"When the news reached Cincinnati, a steam- 
er was promptly transferred to the Commission 
by General Buell. In two hours, three thousand 
dollars were spontaneously given to pay her ex- 
penses ; and she started with nurses and sup- 
plies to the relief of the wounded. At Louis- 
ville, the Associate Secretary for the West, Dr. 
J. S. Newberry, joined the expedition ; and this 
relief was swelled by more coming down from 
other branches of the Commission at Cleveland, 
Chicago, and other points. 

This was almost the first field experience 
of many who were here engaged, but the re- 
lief which they brought was timely and well 
given. The large hospital steamers were amply 
equipped with stores from the Commission ; 
the regimental surgeons thronged to its boat 
and obtained liberal supplies ; and as each ves- 
sel left, loaded with wounded, it took with it 
the means of comfort for the men on board. 
The branch at Cincinnati had telegraphed to 
General Halleck, expressing the desire to take 
charge of some of the sufferers at Fort Donel- 
son. The next morning the reply came, stating 
that five hundred men were on their way, and en- 
joining upon the Commission (could that be ne- 
cessary ?) to treat friend and foe alike. A large 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 1G3 

five-story building was obtained and fitted up; 
a second was soon after required and employed 
in the same way. It may here be mentioned, 
that, when the war began, the use of a United 
States Marine Hospital in Cincinnati had been 
obtained, and it had been furnished, organized 
and opened for the reception of sick and wound- 
ed soldiers. It became so successful, that eventu- 
ally the Government adopted it for its own, and 
the money paid by them for its furniture, &c. 
was kept as a little fund to meet the expenses 
of disabled men endeavoring to reach their 
homes. 

Whilst the naval and military forces were 
assembling at Cairo, an Associate Secretary of 
the Commission, Dr. Douglas, who had been 
employed in a careful survey of the condition 
and need of the troops west of the Mississippi, 
reached that city. He there made to General 
Grant the first suggestion of the floating hos- 
pitals, destined afterwards to play an important 
part in the work of relief. The Government 
adopted the idea, detailed the large steamer 
" City of Memphis," carrying eight hundred 
men, for that service ; and she was equipped, 
or nearly so, by the Sanitary Commission. In 
her the Commission moved up to Paducah in 
time to assist the wounded from Fort Donel- 
son as they came down the river. Dr. Douglas 
left at Cairo, in a building given by the com- 
mander of the post, a depot well supplied 



164 THE UNITED STATES 

with every necessary, in charge of the Chicago 
Branch of the Sanitary Commission. 

This sketch may, perhaps, have given a gen- 
eral idea of the opening work of the Sanitary 
Commission at the West. The story must now 
be confined to a brief mention of the leading 
points of its subsequent work. 

The fall of Fort Donelson opened the Cam- 
berland River, first to Clarksville and then to 
Nashville, at which point a depot of the Com- 
mission was quickly established. 

The enemy were everywhere falling back be- 
fore the advance of our forces under Generals 
Grant and Buell and Admiral Foote. Their 
stronghold, Columbus, on the Mississippi, was 
first abandoned ; then New Madrid ; then Island 
No. 10 ; until they intrenched themselves at Cor- 
inth, on the Northeastern border of Mississippi 
and Tennessee. 

General Grant, able, under cover of the gun- 
boats, to advance his army up the Tennessee 
Kiver, took possession of Savannah, and threw 
forward his main body of sixty thousand men 
to Pittsburg Landing, (an insignificant place of 
some few houses and a wharf, eight miles above 
Savannah,) with the view of advancing against 
Corinth. But a portion of the enemy, under 
General Johnson, which had retreated before 
Buell's columns from Nashville to Chattanooga, 
formed a skilful junction with the Army under 
Beauregard at Corinth, which marched out and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 165 

gave battle to our forces on the rolling plains 
of Shiloh, before Pittsburg Landing. Defeated 
and forced back to the river on the first day, 
General Buell's timely reinforcements enabled 
us on the second day to resume the offensive 
and win a victory. 

Battle of Shiloh. — From the depots at Cairo 
and Paducah and Savannah, the Sanitary Com- 
mission sent forward assistance. Dr. Douglas 
and Dr. Warriner, with a delegation and supplies 
from the Chicago and other branches, went up 
on the transport " Louisiana." As they reached 
the Landing, they passed steamer after steamer 
filling up with wounded. The wild confusion 
of that scene cannot be expressed ; the hurry, 
the excitement, and the miseries of war all min- 
gled together in that narrow space. Men and 
munitions of war were being landed, the wound- 
ed embarked, and the dead trampled over as of 
no account in that struggle for life. The night 
was spent by the Commission in going from 
boat to boat with assistance. Not a boat was 
omitted, and the surgeons from the field, hearing 
that the Commission was present, came eagerly 
for help. On the second day, fresh supplies ar- 
rived from the Cincinnati Branch of the Com- 
mission, in two first-class steamers, " The Ty- 
coon " and " Monarch," furnished with every 
comfort, and with a corps of surgeons and 
nurses. These boats discharged their stores, 
and took in cargoes of wounded for the hos- 



186 THE UNITED STATES 

pitals on the Ohio River. Other boats came up 
and did the same service, — especially from the 
depots at Paducah and Savannah. The Gov- 
ernor of Ohio sent the noble steamer " Magno- 
lia " in charge of the Surgeon-General of the 
State, and fitted out by the Sanitary Commis- 
sion at Cleveland and Columbus. A number 
of other boats were sent up from the different 
surrounding States ; and a fact mentioned in- 
cidentally by the Associate Secretary for the 
West, Dr. Newberry, who was present on the 
field, speaks so forcibly to a certain point, that 
it must be given here. " We took on board," 
he says, " a large number of wounded men, 
who were mostly from Michigan regiments, — 
there being many more from that State requir- 
ing removal than from any other. This was due 
to the fact that steamers sent from Ohio, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, and Kentucky had taken away 
the wounded of those States nearly as fast as 
they gathered there." How sad that is ! Think 
of those poor Michigan boys left languishing 
and watching for the Good Samaritan to pass 
their way! Had they no sense, as they lay there 
in their blood shed for their country, of the un- 
natural wickedness and selfishness of section? 
Thank God for the Sanitary Commission at 
that moment, if at no other. 

After the battle, the Commission established 
a depot at the landing, by invitation on board 
the boat of the Medical Purveyor. From the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 167 

25th of May to the 1st of July the stores issued 
from this depot amounted in all to 160,143 arti- 
cles, of which the following are items : — Shirts 
11,448 ; drawers, 3686 ; socks, 3592 ; bedsacks, 
2777; pillows, 5434; brandy, whisky, wine, 
1045 bottles; ale, 799 bottles; lemons, 941; 
dried fruits, 20,316 lbs. ; canned fruit, 5770 cans ; 
farinaceous food, 15,323 lbs. During the period 
that this depot was kept open, a great service 
was rendered to the Sanitary Commission by 
two women who volunteered for the work, and 
to whom its thanks are due.* 

After the battle, both armies were reinforced ; 
General Pope came up from the Mississippi, and 
we advanced to invest Corinth by Monterey, 
Farmington, and Hamburgh. At these places 
large general hospitals were established: those 
at Monterey for the troops of General Grant; 
those at Farmington £or those of Pope, — Gen- 
eral Buell's hospitals being nearest to the front. 
This is the true principle of the hospital system, 
— 'to establish large receiving hospitals in the rear 
of an army, and then, as the men become con- 
valescent, they are easily returned to duty, and 
they are also more willing to go. To promote the 
establishment of such hospitals, the Associate 
Secretary of the Commission already named 
(Dr. Douglas) presented a plan to the Medical 
Director of the Army, which was immediately 

* One of whom is familiarly known among the soldiers as 
" The Cairo Anj^el." 



168 THE UNITED STATES 

adopted in the construction of the hospital of 
General Buell's division. The plan v/as " sim- 
ple but ingenious," and consisted of a frame- 
work made of trees, the roof covered with tar- 
paulins, (of which there happened to be four 
hundred lying unused at the commissary's,) and 
the sides made of old tent canvas, which by a 
simple arrangement were drawn up during the 
day. These buildings were a great success ; 
for, from their size, perfect ventilation, (being 
opened at the sides and ends at will,) and from 
the cleanliness of the beds and the abundance 
of clothing on hand, they proved to be the best 
form of hospital, in such a chmate, during the 
warm months of summer. This hospital, con- 
taining 1500 beds, and the other general and 
corps hospitals, received what assistance they 
needed from the supplies of the Commission on 
a liberal scale. In addition to these issues, regi- 
mental hospitals were supplied at the rate of 
fifteen hospitals a day. 

Another suggestion, made by Dr. Douglas at 
the time, has since been adopted throughout the 
Army, East and West. It was that of cooking- 
caldrons, made upon the plan of those used on 
farms for boiling the food of cattle. Some were 
to be put on wheels, so that, in the event of a 
battle, they might be taken to the field, and soup 
prepared and served to the wounded and ex- 
hausted. This idea has also been adopted. 

Perhaps at no time in the history of our ar- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 169 

mies has such wise and thoughtful care been 
taken by the medical officers, in anticipation of 
sickness and battle. To the Medical Director 
of that Army, Dr. McDougall, the praise for this 
is chiefly due. 

At this point the armies rested for a while. 
The Sanitary Commission established a depot 
at Hamburgh, and soon after at Corinth ; and 
then Dr. Douglas returned to Cairo to watch 
for the opening of the Mississippi down to Mem- 
phis, where a depot was established so soon as 
that city fell into our hands. 



From this point the writer feels so incapable 
of indicating, with any justice, the work of the 
Commission at the "West, that several months 
will here be passed over in silence, — months of 
steady and systematic work, such as the history 
of the Commission already given may partially 
illustrate. The personal service of the Commis- 
sion agents must not, however, pass unrecorded. 
Life and health were sacrificed, hardships en- 
dured, and dangers braved by them. No money 
could have bought such services as these men 
gave. Through them we measure, from one 
point of view, the value of our Nation in the 
hearts of her sons. 

The only point on which the narrative will 
touch during several ensuing months, will be 
the work of the Sanitary Commission after the 



170 THE UNITED STATES 

battle of Perryville ; stating merely that, through- 
out the summer, the wise and faithful Inspector 
of the Army of the Tennessee (Dr. H. A. War- 
riner, whose wife had already laid down her life 
in the cause) had, with unceasing energy, thrown 
forward ample stores in a circle round the cen- 
tral points of the Army at Corinth, Memphis, 
Jackson, Hamburgh, &c. On the other side, 
Dr. Read, Sanitary Commission Inspector for the 
Army of the Cumberland, then under General 
Buell, was preparing for the work which was 
about to cry out for hands to do it. "When the 
news of the battle of Perryville reached Louis- 
ville, three wagons and twenty-one ambulances 
started with supplies from the Commission ; but 
when the Inspector reached the field, he found 
that there had been almost no preparation for 
the care of the wounded, and, as a consequence, 
that the suffering for want of help of all kinds, as 
well as for proper accommodations, food, medi- 
cines, and hospital stores, was excessive. For 
this state of things, however, the surgeons were 
not to blame. Both those in authority and those 
in attendance were doing all in their power to 
mitigate the suffering which prevailed. The 
Sanitary Commission at once established its 
quarters near the field. The ambulances and 
the wagons arrived, loaded with stores, and at- 
tended by several efficient agents. Surgeons 
were notified that stores could be had, and the 
work of issuing them was rapidly carried on. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 171 

There were at this time, in and around Perry 
ville, Danville, and Harrodsburg, 3000 wounded 
men, and more were coming in. They were all 
very dirty, lying in their bloody clothing ; few 
had straw or other bedding, some were without 
blankets, others had no sheets ; and some whose 
wounds had not been dressed w^ere brought in, 
five days after the battle, from places of tem- 
porary shelter. The surgeons were laboring 
with their usual devotion ; but they were short- 
handed, overworked and had little to work with. 
Leaving agents to attend to the wants at Perry- 
ville, the Inspector, Dr. Read, went forward to 
Danville. Here the wants of the sufferers were 
as urgent as at Perryville, — more so perhaps. 
The Court-house was literally packed; — many 
had eaten nothing during the day. The In- 
spector asked if soup could be made. The sur- 
geons feared not, but gladly gave him permission 
to make it if he could. Some Union men in 
the place assisted him. It was nearly evening; 
there was no beef^ but a man offered to shoot a 
bullock and have it ready in two hours. There 
was no water ^ — the wells were all dry ; but the 
same good man hauled water in barrels from a 
distance. Then there were no kettles to be had, 
— the rebels had taken, them all ; but at last 
one was found in a private family, and another 
was discovered two miles out of the town, owned 
by a man who sent it in, saying he should not 
want it till hog-killing time. Finally, no "paih 



172 . THE UNITED STATES 

were to be had, for love or money ; and how was 
the soup, when made under all these savage dif- 
ficulties, to be distributed without them ? But, 
by good luck, covered firkins with handles, also 
a wash-tub^ were to be bought in a shop ; and at 
last the Inspector, rejoicing in everything, dig- 
ging the trench and laying the stones with hig 
own hands, set both the precious kettles over a 
fire made of old boards picked up in the Court- 
house yard,' and, by ten o'clock at night, dis- 
tributed sixty-five gallons of good soup to the 
exhausted and starving men. Not that he did 
this last himself, poor fellow ; for, by the time 
the soup had triumphed over its difficulties, it 
need scarcely be said that he was utterly ex- 
hausted. As many of the wounded were with- 
out shelter, the Inspector looked about for some 
place where they might at least have a roof over 
their heads. A carriage-shop was found ; the 
owner, with ready kindness, removed the car- 
riages ; and there, on two loads of straw which 
the Inspector had hastily procured, two hundred 
men found rest and shelter. 

Returning to Perryville, he had the great satis- 
faction of finding the condition of the wounded 
much improved, thanks to the untiring exer- 
tions of the surgeons in charge, and to the stores 
of the Sanitary Commission. Up to this time 
no medical stores of any kind had been received 
from Government ; none were on the ground ex- 
cept those of the Commission. Ten tons more 



SANITARY C0:MMISSI0N. 173 

of supplies, in five large wagons, arrived soon 
afterwards from the storehouse of the Commis- 
sion at Louisville. The Confederate prisoners 
were mostly in hospital at Harrodsburg, where 
such aid as was really required was sent forward 
by the Commission. A number of them had 
been taken into private families, and those in 
hospital were, to a certain extent, receiving aid 
from the secession citizens of Harrodsburg and 
Lexington. Several of these prisoners wore 
clothing taken from the Federal troops, and 
some complaint was made that, in certain in- 
stances, this had been done forcibly. One bright 
young fellow, with a good coat of his own and 
a United States overcoat under his head, was 
asked to say where he got the latter. He an- 
swered promptly that he came honestly by it ; 
and said, further, that when he was lying 
wounded on the battle-field, a cold rain had 
come on, and a Federal soldier coming up to 
him asked him some questions, and, seeing how 
much he suffered, took off his coat and put it 
over him. " I shall never shoot that man," said 
he, as he finished his story. 

The destitute and comfortless condition of 
the wounded at all these points may, perhaps, 
be guessed from such details as the following : 
— Hospital No. 1. — A church ; seventy-eight 
patients lying on the floor and benches, on a 
moderate supply of straw ; no bed-sacks, no 
pillows, several without blankets ; no change 



174 THE UNITED STATES 

of clothing ; cooking done in three little kettles 
out of doors. No. 2. — A church ; eighty -five 
men lying on a little straw ; some lying together 
to make one blanket cover two ; no bedding nor 
change of clothing ; cooking done in one kettle 
and a stewpan. And so on through the whole 
list. This will show the terrible necessity for 
all kinds of hospital furniture, not to speak of 
supplies and stores for the men. A little inci- 
dent occurred in one of these hospitals which 
is worth relating here. The Wisconsin State 
Agents were distributing relief to the Wiscon- 
sin boys only. One of them, lying seriously 
wounded, received some of it, but he afterwards 
said, " I did n't like it ; it made me feel bad 
to have things given to me and not to the boy 
lying next to me. But I made it all right, 
for I divided with him." 

So soon as the sick in all these hospitals, at 
Perry ville, Danville, and elsewhere in the vicinity, 
were able to bear the journey, they were sent off 
to the large cities. Lebanon was the first railroad 
point from the battle-ground (from Danville it 
was twenty miles), and it became the rendez- 
vous for the poor fellows. It was from here, 
and at this time, that the Hospital Cars of the 
Sanitary Commission commenced their Western 
service. An account of the Commission upon 
this field cannot be closed without alluding to 
the hearty appreciation which it called forth 
from army officers, who seem to have taken 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 175 

pains to bring before the Commission and the 
public their sense of the benefits they had re- 
ceived. A few of their letters are printed here : 

" Dear Sir : 

" Permit me through you to acknowledge 
my obligations to the United States Sanitary 
Commission for the very efficient aid which it 
has rendered to me, in furnishing supplies for 
the sick and wounded soldiers under my charge, 
at a time when they could not be obtained 
through any other source. When the hospitals 
were first established in this district, we were 
almost entirely destitute of hospital and medical 
supplies, including almost every article for the 
comfort of the sick. With an unusually large 
number of sick and wounded on our hands, we 
were compelled to see them suffer, without the 
proper means of affording them relief. 

" The condition of things was immediately 
telegraphed to the Medical Purveyor in Louis- 
ville, and that officer, with his usual promptness, 
at once furnished everything necessary to ren- 
der our sick comfortable ; but from some cause 
the supplies were detained several weeks on 
the road, and were not received until long after 
those arrived that were sent by the Sanitary 
Commission. 

" Considering the large number of the sick 
and wounded in the district (between six and 
seven thousand), and the almost total absence 



178 THE UXITED STATES 

of everything necessary to make them comforta- 
ble, I have no doubt that the timely aid afforded 
by the Commission in this single instance has 
been the means of preventing much suffering, 
as well as of saving many valuable lives. 

" I trust that the Commission will be able to 
continue in its good work, and that it may 
have, as it certainly deserves, the thanks of 
every friend of humanity. 

" I am, dear sir, very respectfully, 

" Geo. G. Shumard, Sur^. TJ. S. A., 

" Medical Director Danville District." 

« To Dr. J. S. Newbery. ^ 

"Sir: — It is but just to the United States 
Sanitary Commission to say that the aid they 
have rendered to the wounded in the battle of 
Chaplin Hills has been indispensable. No one 
but an eye-witness can estimate the great ad- 
vantage their supplies have been to the wound- 
ed. When the Government supplies shipped to 
us were detained in Bardstown and other places 
several weeks, theirs, by extraordinary efforts 
were put promptly through, and came to our 
aid when we were perfectly destitute. 

"A large proportion of the wounded coming 
from the battle-field were stripped of their cloth- 
ing. The bedding, clothing, and dressings fur- 
nished by the Commission were of inestimable 
advantage. Considering the great help rendered 
by this Commission, it is to be hoped that the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 177 

people will be stimulated to greater efforts to 
aid them in their benevolent mission. 
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" James G. Hatchett, 

" Surgeon U. S. Volunteers^ 
" In charge of Hospitals at Perryville." 



" Head-quakters Third Division, 
"Twentieth Army Corps. 

" To Dr. Castleman, 

" Inspector United States Sanitary Commission. 

" Sir ; — Allow me through you to return the 
sincere thanks of the medical officers of this 
division to the United States Sanitary Com- 
mission, for their uniform promptness and at- 
tention to the wants of the sick and wounded 
soldiers. 

" It has been my lot to be with this division 
as medical director through two hard-fought bat- 
tles (Perryville and Stone's River), where we had 
many wounded men, with only limited means 
of ministering to their comfort. Consequently, 
I have had a good opportunity to judge of the 
efficiency of your organization, and the benefits 

derived from it To it we are indebted 

also for many valuable suggestions which have 
added much to the comfort of camp-life. 

" With the most sincere hope that the Com- 
mission may receive the continued support it 
deserves, I am, 

" Very respectfully, 
" D. V. Griffith, Medical Director," 

12 



178 THE UNITED STATES 

" Head-quarteks Third Division, 
" Twentieth Army Corps, 

" Murfreesboro, May 4, 1863, 

" I take great pleasure in indorsing every 
word of the within letter, and desire to return, 
through the Medical Inspector, my sincere 
thanks to the United States Sanitary Com- 
mission, for their almost invaluable services to 
my wounded men at Perry ville and Stone's 
River. J. H. Sheridan, Major GeneralP 

Early in May, 1863, the Army of the Tennes- 
see leaving its base of supplies, and carrying al- 
most nothing but its munitions of war, struck 
out boldly into the heart of the enemy's coun- 
try. After a rapid march upon the capital of 
Mississippi, it turned westward, and by a series 
of battles, each one of which was crowned with 
success, closed its victorious columns upon the 
rebel stronghold which had so long sealed the 
navigation of the great river. Letters and re- 
ports from Dr. Warriner, Inspector of the Sani- 
tary Commission, whose duty lay with the march 
of this Army, came up from every advanced point 
gained upon the Mississippi, from Bolivar, Co- 
lumbus, Young's Point, Haines's Bluff, Milliken's 
Bend, and at last Yazoo River, near Vicksburg. 
As the Army advanced it accumulated its sick 
and wounded, until an estimate made June 5th 
placed the amount at 5300. The Medical Direc- 
tor at Memphis speaks with enthusiasm of the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 179 

manner in which the men rallied from the de- 
pressing influence of wounds and amputations. 
This could not be attributed to the effect of 
climate, which was clearly becoming more and 
more adverse to it. There is no doubt that it 
resulted from a change of diet, procured for the 
Army, in a great measure, by the exertions of 
the Sanitary Commission. 

In the Spring an urgent call had been made 
for vegetables ; and it was stated that many 
wounds, which, in a healthy condition of the 
system, were unattended with danger, would, in 
the present condition of the men, (scurvy hav- 
ing appeared,) prove fatal. Mention of this mat- 
ter will be made further on ; but it may be said 
here, that the remarkably healthy condition of 
the sick around Vicksburg is largely owing to 
the avalanche of vegetables with which the 
Sanitary Commission had supplied the Army 
of the Tennessee. 

In March, 1863, General Grant issued a spe-' 
cial order requiring the quartermaster's depart- 
ment to provide a suitable steamboat, to be 
called " The United States Sanitary Store 
Boat," and to put the same in charge of the 
United States Sanitary Commission, to be used 
exclusively for the conveyance of goods calcu- 
lated to prevent disease, and supplemental to 
the Government supply of stores for the relief 
of the sick and wounded. With this boat, 
< The Dunleith," loading with stores at Cincin- 



180 THE UNITED STATES 

nati, Louisville, and Cairo, Dr. Warriner was 
able to throw forward his supplies at will, pre- 
ceding and following them with his duties of 
inspection. The sick along the line, at Helena, 
Memphis, Jackson, Lagrange, Corinth, &c., &c., 
all were reached by her supplies. Sometimes the 
stores of the Sanitary Commission were in- 
creased by gifts from the " Western Sanitary 
Commission"; and at one time, by order of 
General Grant, one hundred tons of Govern-' 
ment ice were turned over to it for distribution, 
— a wayside compliment which was appreciated. 
The supplies which it issued to the Army before 
Vicksburg during the months of May and June, 
were as follows : — Quilts, 1504 ; pillows, 2220 ; 
sheets, 1840 ; drawers, 5376 ; towels, &c., 7484 ; 
farina, &c., 266 lbs. ; sago, &c., 1044 lbs. ; bed- 
sacks, 758 ; pillow-cases, 2830 ; shirts, 7909 ; 
dressing-gowns, 422 ; socks, 2453 pairs ; slip- 
pers, 1190 pairs ; corn starch, 275 lbs. ; cloths 
and bandages, 50 bbls. ; fruit, 5114 cans ; con- 
centrated beef, 771 cans ; dried fruit, 16,430 
lbs. ; dried beef, 888 lbs. ; groceries, 1882 lbs. ; 
wines and liquors, 1979 bottles ; butter, 3557 
lbs. ; apple-butter, 30 gallons ; eggs, 2401 doz. ; 
pickles, 2376 gallons ; molasses, 85 gallons ; 
sour krout, 1532 gallons ; potatoes, 5762 bush- 
els ; ale and cider, 1031 gallons ; ice, 27,367 
lbs.; crackers, 6898 lbs.; codfish, 6777 lbs.; 
cornmeal, 2485 lbs. ; tea, 532 lbs. ; pickles, 301 
bottles ; lemons, 13,200 ; hospital furniture, 1747 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 181 

articles ; fans, 2347 ; crutches, 65 pairs ; cots 
and mattresses, 199 ; spices, 2006 papers ; qui- 
nine, 200 oz. 

When the great stronghold of Vicksburg fell 
into our hands, early in July, 1863, a portion of 
our Army moved, at full speed, in pursuit of the 
enemy, leaving behind them their sick and 
wounded, swelled by a large number of the 
rebel sick. The latter were in a state of great 
destitution. They made beseeching appeals to 
the Sanitary Commission which were regarded. 
One of the best Government Surgeons was put 
in charge of their hospitals, and requisitions 
made for them at the North were not made in 
vain. As soon as it could be done with safety, 
the sick and wounded of both armies were sent 
away in special transports, — ours up the river to 
Northern hospitals, and theirs down the river to 
their own homes. In one month after the sur- 
render of Vicksburg, everything was going on 
as well as could be reasonably expected ; and 
it is a satisfaction to know from authority of 
the highest kind, that the services of the Sani- 
tary Commission in leading to this result were 
well appreciated. 

A general quiet prevailed in the Army of the 
Tennessee after the capture of Vicksburg, but 
the means of the Commission were fully em- 
ployed in supplying the wants of a large and 
increasing number of sick (multiplying by the 
advance of the season) in every corps of Gen- 



182 THE UNITED STATES 

eral Grant's Army. The great privileges granted 
to the Commission by the Commanding Gen- 
eral have opened wider, and still wider, doors of 
usefulness, so that the distributions at Mem- 
phis, Helena, and Vicksburg have been greater 
than ever before. It will give a strong picture 
of the work done and the hardships endured in 
that fearful climate, when we state that there is 
not a single agent of the Commission with that 
Army who has not been sooner or later pros- 
trated by disease ; there is not one of them who 
is not now performing his duty at the peril of 
life or health. The sickness at Vicksburg has 
been steadily on the increase. The autumn 
months of that climate are cursed with mala- 
rious fever and dysentery, which have assumed 
of late a malignant form. Yet, God be thanked, 
yellow fever has not appeared, — wonderful and 
blessed fact that, West or South, it has not ap- 
peared ! It would seem as though this mighty 
scourge of earth felt eclipsed and put aside by 
the mightier scourge of War, not daring, or not 
needed to make a " holiday in hell." 

From Vicksburg and the Mississippi River 
supplies have been thrown forward to many 
points. Boats have been sent to General Steele's 
advance on the White River, in Arkansas, and, 
for some time past, liberal supplies, under the 
charge of Mr. J. R. Brown, Inspector and Relief 
Agent, have gone forward into Kansas. The 
troops at Fort Leavenworth, Fort Scott, and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 183 

other points in the Indian Territory, have been so 
situated as to be cut off from Government sup- 
plies, and urgent appeals were made to the Sani- 
tary Commission in their behalf. Mr. Brown 
and his companion, Dr. C. C. Slocum, have been 
indefatigable in their efforts to reach even the 
most distant frontier with a train of supplies. 

On the opening of the Mississippi, an agent 
of the Western Department of the U. S. Sani- 
tary Commission, Dr. Fithian, was despatched 
to Port Hudson, meeting there the agents of the 
Eastern Department, who were, at that time, 
amply furnished with stores and assistance. Dr. 
Warriner has lately sent down fresh supplies, 
and is cooperating with those already stationed 
there for the expedition now preparing under 
General Banks. 

Thus has the Sanitary Commission thrown 
out her arms until the " white hands of heal- 
ing" meet and clasp around the whole palpitat- 
ing mass of human suffering in the National 
Army. 

We will now turn back to the Army of the 
Cumberland. The work here has been under 
the immediate supervision of Dr. A. N. Read, a 
veteran Inspector, whose efforts for months and 
years have been characterized by energy and 
wisdom. He is ably seconded by Dr. Castle- 
man and others. 

In no department of the whole Army has the 



181 THE UNITED STATES 

work been more thoroughly and systematically 
performed. The praise, however, must not be 
allowed to rest on the Commission alone ; it 
most be given also to the military and medical 
authorities, all of whom, from the Commanding 
General down, have steadily and cordially co- 
operated ; not only granting cheerfully all reason- 
able requests, but often spontaneously offering 
aid which the Commission was about to need. 

In the Spring of 1863, as we have said, the 
great need of fresh vegetables for the armies 
of those regions began to appear, in the silent 
warning of here and there a case • of scurvy. 
The United States Medical Inspector of the 
Army of the Cumberland was early aware of 
the fact, and of the great deficiency in the 
supply. The matter was seriously announced 
by the directors of several army corps ; and the 
Medical Inspector, on his return to Nashville, 
brought the subject in its magnitude before the 
Sanitary Commission, which had, however, 
already done something in that direction. Under 
the supervision of Dr. Read, large shipments of 
vegetables to the Army of General Rosecrans 
were promptly made by boat and railroad ; and, 
by order of that General, hospital gardens of 
forty acres were planted at Nashville and at 
Murfreesboro, under the care of the Sanitary 
Commission, to be in readiness for the season 
when the supplies from the North should fail. 
The gardens at Murfreesboro furnished, up to 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 185 

August 30th, 248 barrels of assorted vegetables, 
and the gardener estimated that during the re- 
mainder of the season it would yield about 
800 bushels of tomatoes ; 1200 bushels of Irish 
patatoes ; 1200 bushels of sweet potatoes ; 25,000 
heads of cabbage ; besides large quantities of 
beans, melons, turnips, &c. Meantime the ship- 
ments made by the Commission to the Army of 
the Tennessee and to the Army of the Cumber- 
land, amounted to more than 6000 barrels of 
assorted vegetables. Thanks to this care, the 
scurvy disappeared. This feature of the work 
called forth hearty thanks and appreciation. It 
was detailed in the official report of the Medi- 
cal Inspector to General Rosecrans ; and a re- 
quest for the publication of a portion of the 
report called out the following letter from the 
Medical Inspector : — 

"Dear Sir: — 

" Since it meets the approval of General Rose- 
crans, I am very willing to allow you to make 
such extracts from my report as had special 
reference to the Sanitary Commission. As you 
have read my report, you need not be informed 
of my opinion of the necessity of your work. 
I am scarcely able to give it the prominence it 
deserves. 

" It is to this Army what I have found it to be 
everywhere in the armies of the United States : 
one of its most important means of support, 



186 THE UNITED STATES 

and without which its efficiency would be 
greatly diminished. No one who has watched 
its work in the field, in the general hospitals, on 
the road toward home of discharged and dis- 
abled soldiers, but will agree with me in saying 
that it is doing a vast deal, both in the cause of 
our country and in the cause of humanity ; and 
so long as the nation sends its soldiers to the 
field, the Sanitary Commission must continue 
its work. The agents, so far as I have seen 
them, are intelligent, faithful, and zealous, and 
the public has nothing to fear in trusting to them 
its gifts. 

" Would to God that every one at the North 
could see and understand as well as we do the 
value and necessity of the work. 

u Yery respectfully yours, 
" Frank H. Hamilton, 

" Medical Inspector, U. S. A." 

It was computed and said at the time, that 
one shipment of vegetables from Pittsburg 
alone had done more to increase the effective 
fighting strength of the Army than would have 
been done by raising a full regiment of new 
recruits. 

In looking through the records of the first six 
months of 1863, we find the old story of current 
supply — grown almost monotonous to us in 
the telling. Sketches of the " Homes " and the 
" Hospital Directory " come in like little golden 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 187 

arabesques to vivify the sober background of 
quiet mercy, and, here and there, we fall upon 
some blessed words of appreciation, which have 
done more to strengthen and support the Sani- 
tary Commission than can ever be known or 
told. Can we measure the life and strength 
given by such words as these, taken at random : 
" Your liberal shipment received ; it will do 
more good than shipments from the Purveyor, 
for it meets our need. .... The benefit and 
good done by the Sanitary Commission has 
never been acknowledged. I hope I may live 
to see it. J. R. Black, 

" Medical Director^'' 



"Medical Director's Office, 
"Department of the Cumberland, 
'■'•Nashville^ Tenn. 
" To Dr. Newberry. 

" Sir : — I understand that it is your intention 
to organize another Sanitary train for the trans- 
portation of the sick and wounded. I sincerely 
hope you may, for experience has shown me 
that the first was of the greatest benefit to the 
sick and wounded. The rapid transportation, 
the care exercised over the patients, and the com- 
petent attendants sent with each train have, I 
am convinced, been the means of saving many 
lives. I, personally, as well as the sick and 
wounded soldiers, am under many obligations 
to the Sanitary Commission ; but in my opinion 



188 THE UNITED STATES 

the ' Sanitary train ' does more than aught else 
for the comfort of the sick.* 

" A. Henry Thurston, 
^^Asst. Med. Director Department Cumberland.^' 

And last and best, that testimony from a 
great and good General, which is a trophy to 
the Commission: — 

" Head-quarters Department op the Cumberland, 
" MuRFREESBORO, February 2, 1863.' 

" The General Commanding presents.his warm- 
est acknowledgments to the friends of the sol- 
diers of this Army, whose generous sympathy 
with the suffering of the sick and wounded has 
induced them to send for their comfort numerous 
sanitary supplies, which are continually arriving 
by the hands of individuals and charitable so- 
cieties. While he highly appreciates and does 
not undervaJue the charities which have been 
lavished on this Army, experience has demon- 
strated the importance of system and impar- 
tiality, as well as judgment and economy, in the 
forwarding and distribution of these supplies. 
In all these respects, the United States Sanitary 
Commission stands unrivalled. Its organiza- 
tion, experience, and large facilities for the work 
are such that the General does not hesitate to 
recommend, in the most urgent manner, all 
those who desire to send sanitary supplies, to 
confide them to the care of this Commission. 
* See Appendix I. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 189 

" They will thus insure the supplies reaching 
their destination without wastage, or expense 
of agents or transportation, and their being dis- 
tributed in a judicious manner without disorder 
or interference with the regulations and usages 
of the service. 

" This Commission acts in full concert with the 
Medical Department of the Army, and enjoys 
its confidence. It is thus enabled with a few 
agents to do a large amount of good at the 
proper time, and in the proper way. Since the 
battle of Stone's River, it has distributed a sur- 
prisingly large amount of clothing, lint, band- 
ages, and bedding, as well as milk, concentrated 
beef, fruit, and other sanitary stores, essential to 
the recovery of the sick and wounded. 

" W. S. ROSECRANS, 

" Major- General Commanding Departments 

In the middle of July the Army moved. 
With each division went an ambulance, filled 
with the stores of the Commission. Two In- 
spectors marched with the Army, accompanied 
by special messengers, to be sent back to the 
storehouses of the Commission when the sup- 
plies on hand should begin to give out. The 
history is the same as ever. As the Army starts 
the sick are left behind, or they fall out of the 
ranks as it moves on. Messengers are going 
back, and supplies are moving forward. Gen- 
eral Rosecrans's headquarters are at Tullahoma ; 



190 THE UNITED STATES 

a battle is expected, and things must be in 
readiness for it. So the telegraph keeps say- 
ing, " Bring stores by the next train." " Send 
forward, without delay, two ambulances with 
plenty of stimulants, morphine, and quinine." 
" We have clothing, but are nearly out of ar- 
ticles of diet, and they are in great demand," 
etc., etc. 

The health of the Army on the 15th of 
August is reported as unusually good. " The 
14th Army Corps has but 160 men unable to 
do duty." " At Winchester and TuUahoma 
there are but few sick, the worst cases have been 
sent to general hospitals." " Our cavalry com- 
mand is distributed over a large territory; its 
left and right wings being not less than 120 
miles apart. They are employed in scouting, 
have a sufficient number of good shelter-tents ; 
cook by companies, even when scouting; and 
the surgeons inspect the food to see that it is 
well cooked. There has been no issue of fresh 
vegetables for a long time, but many are ob- 
tained from the country around. The clothing 
is sufficient, and of good quality. All have 
blankets of cloth or india-rubber. Each regi- 
ment has one hospital tent. The report of the 
sick in the whole command, in hospital and 
quarters, is 225, — mostly slight cases. There is 
one ambulance to each regiment, with a reserve 
supply well furnished with medical stores and 
instruments. The hospital record is properly 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 191 

kept, and there is a hospital fund. Diarrhoea 
and malarial fevers are the prevailing diseases." 
So it appears that the Inspector is doing his 
duty in the advance, and discovers that others 
are doing the same. His little memorandum 
says much for the officers of that cavalry com- 
mand. 

At last from Chattanooga come the heavy laden 
words, " We are expecting a great battle." 
" Dr. Barnum came last night, — was very ener- 
getic in getting through. Mr. Crary came yes- 
terday with seven loads of stores. Mr. Redding 
and his companion were left at Bridgeport, ex- 
pecting to come on as soon as possible. They 
are wanted now at Bridgeport and at Steven- 
son more than here. I shall try to communicate 
with them to-day by telegraph. Stores designed 
for this place must be sent to Bridgeport at 
once, so -as to be ready for the trains. They 
can be stored in tents, which have been fur- 
nished to us. We are practically farther from 
Bridgeport than Bridgeport is from Louisville ; 
and we regard ourselves as exceedingly fortu- 
nate to get goods through as we have, but it is 
very difficult to communicate with those here. 
I will telegraph you of any special changes." 

" Stevekson, Ala., Sept. 24, 1863. 

" I reached this point on the first of Septem- 
ber, in company with my brother, Dr. A. N. 
Read, who had visited the place repeatedly be- 



192 THE UNITED STATES 

fore, and established a depot of stores here- 
The immediate demand for supplies was then 
not large, as much of the Army was inacces- 
sible, and was so situated that vegetables and 
other supplies could, in part, be drawn from 
the country. All the sick who could be 
reached from the different stations along the 
road, were liberally supplied with stores, and 
vegetables were furnished to such regiments as 
seemed most needy. 

" Arrangements were made with the medical 
director of the department, by whom we were 
to be notified by telegraph or courier of any 
probable engagement with the enemy ; the 
notice to be accompanied by an order for the 
requisite transportation. 

" As our troops passed fmiher from the river, 
and began to concentrate around Chattanooga, 
it seemed best to have a personal inspection of 
the wants of the Army, and of the routes by 
which stores could reach the different divisions 
from Stevenson or Bridgeport. Accordingly, 
we purchased saddle-horses, and on the 8th 
started for the front, passing through Bridge- 
port and over Raccoon or Sandy Mountain by a 
rocky, difficult mountain-road, reaching General 
Rosecrans's head-quarters at Trenton, Georgia, 
on the afternoon of the 9th. Here we heard of 
the evacuation of Chattanooga, and on the 
morning of the 10th reached that place in com- 
pany with a part of the General's staff. On 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 193 

our route we struck the river road from Bridge- 
port to Chattanooga, the latter part of which 
passes along the side of Lookout Mountain, 
over a rough, broken, rocky bed, cut into the 
mountain-side, over which loaded wagons pass 
with great difficulty. 

" At Chattanooga we learned that the enemy 
were steadily falling back, — the rumors of the 
probabilities of an engagement constantly chang- 
ing and contradictory. Should one occur, it was 
evident there would be great destitution ; and, 
having ascertained by inspection of the routes 
by which supplies must be brought in, that prac- 
tically Chattanooga was farther from Bridgeport 
than the latter place is from Louisville, we made 
immediate and persistent efforts to procure trans- 
portation, so as to forward as many stores as we 
could get at the earliest moment, and finally 
succeeded in getting through, with the first sup- 
ply train that reached the place, seven wagon- 
loads of milk, beef, rags, bandages, dried fruits, 
hospital clothing, &c. Mr. Crary, our store- 
keeper at Stevenson, came through with the 
train, and immediately returned to superintend 
the forwarding of further supplies. 

" We obtained an order for four more wagons, 
which was telegraphed to Stevenson, and the 
wagons were loaded and forwarded before Mr. 
Crary got through on his return. During the 
battle he sent forward additional supplies, which 
were turned back by an order stopping all trains, 

13 



194 THE UNITED STATES 

and did not reach Chattanooga before we left 
the place, but crossed the river and were taken 
in charge by the hospital steward of the 93d 
Ohio Vols., a faithful man, who undertook to 
get them through by the route on this side. 

" Good rooms were secured at Chattanooga, 
our stores assorted and arranged for rapid deliv- 
ery, before the battle commenced. Skirmishing 
occurred along the line for several days, and a 
few wounded men were brought to the hospitals 
in the town. These were supplied with such 
articles as they required from our rooms, and we 
also sent forward, by every safe means, a limited 
supply to the temporary hospitals in the front. 

" On Saturday, the 19th, the general engage- 
ment commenced, and continued, suspended at 
intervals while changing positions or falling 
back, throughout Saturday, Sunday, Monday, 
and Tuesday. During this time there was no 
opportunity of making even the briefest memo- 
randa, and the events, of which T am giving you 
this hurriedly written narrative, may not all be 
detailed in the order of their occurrence My 
brother was severely sick, and had been so for 
several days. In fact, he was totally unfitted 
for work, but persisted in doing what he could, 
and continued the general superintendence of 
the work. Not a great many wounded were 
sent back on Saturday ; but on Sunday they 
came in numbers far beyond the ability of all 
the medical officers to provide even tolerably 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 195 

for their comfort. At the request of the medi- 
cal director, Dr. Barnum took possession of two 
large blocks, cleared ont the rooms, fitted them 
up temporarily for the wounded, supplying them 
with clothing, bandages, and edibles from our 
rooms, procured and put up stores, dressed the 
wounds of those most requiring immediate 
assistance, and superintended the providing and 
cooking of rations for the men. All of the 
rooms were soon filled ; and by his untiring 
efforts from 1500 to 2000 were rendered toler- 
ably comfortable. On Sunday, I visited all 
the hospitals and temporary resting-places of 
the wounded, notifying the officers in charge of 
the location of our rooms and the nature of our 
supplies, asking them to send for everything we 
had so far as it was needed. 

" Returning late in the evening, I found a 
large church on Main Street, where services had 
been held during the day, and saw that the steps 
were crowded with wounded men. Entering 
the church, it was found filled with a congrega- 
tion from the battle-field, crippled with every 
variety of wounds, with no medical or other 
officer in charge, without food of any kind, 
without water, and without even a candle to 
shed a glimmering light over their destitution, — 
silent worshippers in the darkness, — patient, un- 
murmuring martyrs in a noble cause, apparently 
deserted by all except Him in whose sanctuary 
they had taken refuge. I immediately carried 



196 THE UNITED STATES 

concentrated beef to the residence of Dr. Simms 
near the church, — a resident physician of rebel 
sympathies, but a generous and warm-hearted 
man, in whose office we had some days before 
found quarters, and where my brother superin- 
tended the preparation of soup while I brought 
candles and a box of hard bread, had them 
carried to the church, and, procuring water, dis- 
tributed it to the thirsty. 

" Two thirds of the occupants of the church — 
some with shattered arms, and some with other 
ghastly wounds — were sleeping quietly upon 
the seats and the floor, unconscious of their 
many wounds. Never before had I so high an 
appreciation of ' Nature's sweet restorer, balmy 
sleep.' 

" The soup was brought and distributed to 
the wakeful, and my brother and Dr. Simms 
commenced dressing their wounds, and con- 
tinued their labor till sheer exhaustion compelled 
them to desist ; — the waking men provided for, 
the sleeping were allowed to sleep in peace. 
I reported the condition of these men to the 
medical director, and medical officers were put 
in charge of them, and in the morning a chap- 
lain took charge of vegetables and other eatables 
which I sent from the rooms, and superintended 
the preparation of food for the men. At this 
time, Monday, the streets were completely 
blockaded their whole length with army wagons, 
as an order had been issued on Sunday for the 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 197 

whole train to be sent across the river. This 
was done apparently to avoid confusion, and to 
save our train if our forces should be compelled 
to evacuate the place. The only means of 
crossing was one narrow pontoon bridge, and 
for two days the trains filled the streets. 
Our stores were needed everywhere, but nobody 
could get to our quarters. After applying to 
several head-quarters, I procured an order for 
three army wagons to report at our rooms for 
the distribution of stores. And, hastily riding to 
the different hospitals, I obtained approximately 
the capacity of each, the number of its inmates, 
and the nature of the articles most needed. The 
usual answer to the question, ' What do you 
need most ? ' was, ' Everything,' — a comprehen- 
sive, but almost literally a truthful answer. Re- 
turning to the rooms, I gave general directions 
to Messrs. Redding and Larrabee, who superin- 
tended the loading of the wagons, and piloted 
each one, when loaded, through the dense mass 
of teams to its destination. 

" At first sight, it seemed an apparently hope- 
less undertaking ; but the words, ' This wagon is 
loaded with stores for your wounded comrades ; 
can you make room for it to pass ? ' operated 
like magic everywhere ; and in no single instance 
did I find a driver who did not promptly and 
cheerfully open a way for the supplies, and that 
too, through streets where there were three, four, 
and five parallel trains, the drivers all eager to 



198 THE UNITED STATES 

reach the pontoon bridge first and secure prece- 
dence in crossing. In this way, we succeeded 
in getting a good supply : a full wagon-load each 
ta the seminary building, and old rebel hospi- 
tals on the hill ; to the old rebel hospital near the 
Critchfield Hotel (now called No. 2) ; to the 
Critchfield Hotel, where there were about 1500 
wounded ; to two churches next to the Critch- 
field House ; to the Presbyterian Church, and to 
three blocks of buildings on Main Street ; and to 
the officers' hospital, in a large brick building 
east of Main Street. 

" The stores most in demand at Chattanooga 
were of edibles, beef, milk, stimulants, and dried 
fruit. The beef, on account of its intrinsic value, 
portability, and the readiness with which it can 
be prepared, is the most valuable of all, and at such 
a time as this there is no danger of an over-sup- 
ply. Of clothing and dressings, bandages and 
rags were first in demand ; then shirts, drawers, 
comforts, and blankets. Of the last we had but 
a few, and there was a great demand for them. 
Most of the wounded had lost their blankets. 
The nights were cold, and they suffered greatly 
on that account. I have mentioned only these 
few articles of prime necessity, but everything 
usually furnished for the sick and wounded was 
then, and is now, in great demand. We are 
able to provide for those who get through to the 
railroad what is needed in addition to the Gov- 
ernment supplies, but it is essential that large 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 199 

quantities of all the usual articles be shipped 
through to Chattanooga as fast as possible. 
There the destitution and suffering have been, 
and must, for some time, be very great. Yet, 
you must not construe what I write here, or 
have written above, as an implied censure of 
the medical officers of the Army. I know how 
persistently the Medical Director of the Army 
labored to procure transportation for his sup- 
plies, and how ready he was to aid us in procur- 
ing transportation. I know, also, that war is 
and must be cruel ; and, situated as our Army 
was before Chattanooga, even mercy to the 
wounded required that the Army, yes, even that 
the horses, should be fed, although the wounded 
suffered until the battle was over. Over roads, 
the difficulties of which no one will appreciate 
until he has tried them, supplies had to be car- 
ried for men and horses whose strength and 
endurance alone could save all of the wounded 
from the hardships and destitution which the 
wounded prisoners would encounter at the hands 
of the rebels. 

" If Chattanooga is to be permanently held, 
easier communication must be established by 
the river and by rail. The shorter carriage- 
route over Lookout Mountain, which has been 
blown up to prevent a flank movement, will be 
reopened, and we shall then be able to send for- 
ward additional supplies as fast as you can get 
them here. Thus far no time has been lost, for 



200 THE UNITED STATES 

we have had all that we could get ti-ansporta- 
tion for; and by the time a new shipment can 
reach us, we hope to secure transportation for 
all you can send us. 

" If, when this reaches you, the telegrams from 
the front advise you that we still hold Chatta- 
nooga, my advice would be to send of all supplies 
as large a quantity as possible ; for I believe 
that, already, this battle is one of the bloodiest 
of the war. Our loss must already be greater 
than it was at Stone's River ; and I do not be- 
lieve the rebels will fall back before our rein- 
forced army without another desperate struggle." 

With this record ends this imperfect sketch, 
and our thoughts are left to go with the Com- 
mission upon that bloody field, where so much 
of the youth and manhood of our country, of its 
nerve and genius, are lying dead. 

Whilst victory and defeat have alike given us 
work on the Cumberland and on the Mississippi, 
the armies in Western Virginia and General 
Bm-nside's forces in the Department of the Ohio 
have been inspected and their wants supplied. 
From General Burn side, as might be expected, 
every assistance has been received by the Com- 
mission, and he has issued especial orders in its 
favor, similar to those of General Grant and 
General Rosecrans. 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 201 



ARMIES OF THE GULF AND THE ATLANTIC COAST. 

During all this time work was going on upon 
many another field. 

Army of the Gulf. — The control of the Fed- 
eral Government over the coasts of the enemy 
was extended in December, 1861, by the success 
of a small naval expedition which took posses- 
sion of Ship Island, and of the half-finished fort 
upon it. On New Year's day, 1862, the expedi- 
tion under Major- General Butler sailed from 
Boston with reinforcements to this point, and 
with it went an Inspector of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, Dr. Geo. A. Blake, with large supplies 
from the Boston Branch. The expedition sailed 
in the transport " Constitution," with two thou- 
sand five hundred troops on board ; and it was 
owing to the forethought of the Inspector, 
who took with him some vaccine virus, (none 
else proved to be on board,) that the ship was 
saved from the scourge of small-pox, — one 
case having appeared which they were able to 
leave at Fortress Monroe. The wretched condi- 
tion of Ship Island, a barren, desolate sand-spit, 
left free for the most part to alligators and such 
reptiles as abound in the swamps and lagoons 
of that region ; the painful and variable climate ; 
the sufferings of the men from diarrhoea, influ- 
enza, and rheumatism ; the badness of the food, 
which was of salt meat (no fresh meat being 
issued) ; the badness of the water, and the 



202 THE UNITED STATES 

wretched system of cooking, made the presence 
of the Sanitary Commission not undesirable, 
A hospital was established on the Island and 
liberally furnished from the Commission stores, 
which had been replenished at Fortress Monroe. 
Whilst the Inspector's head-quarters were at 
Ship Island he found time and opportunity to 
visit Key West, and to examine and relieve the 
wants of the troops stationed there. 

The condition of the sick on the Island being, 
after a time, so far improved that the depot 
could be left in charge of a relief agent, Dr. 
Blake believed that more real good might be 
done by his accepting a proposal of General 
Butler, to become temporarily the surgeon of 
the 26th E-egt. Mass. Vols., and he joined the 
expedition against New Orleans, with the pros- 
pect of an advance up the Mississippi. As the 
expedition lay at anchor below Fort Jackson, 
during the bombardment, he found an oppor- 
tunity to benefit the sister-service. The naval 
officers were anxious to establish a hospital at 
Pilot-town, in the Southwest Passage. The 
destitution of the gunboats in all medical and 
surgical appliances was found to be complete; 
nor was it possible to procure such appliances 
from any source whatever. A happy accident 
brought the Commission in their way, and they 
were liberally supplied with sponges, chloro- 
form, oiled silk, adhesive plaster, bandages, lint, 
sheets, &c., &c. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 203 

Nothing can describe the suffering of the 
troops upon the crowded transports which are 
used for these expeditions ; but it is wonderfu. 
how much misery our soldiers will cheerfully 
endure. Surely the wells of patriotism in their 
hearts are too deep to be drained by the prospect 
of any suffering, however great, or the experience 
of any hardships, however severe, incurred in the 
defence of our National Government. One of 
the ships employed to carry troops for this expe- 
dition had been chartered to carry British troops 
to the Crimea, and was then limited to the 
number of three hundred and sixty : our quar- 
termaster thought her capable of carrying one 
thousand. The Commission was able at least 
to mitigate the sufferings of these men. A 
clean shirt was a boon to many a poor fellow, 
\vho recited to the Inspector the habits of clean- 
liness in which he had been trained, and told 
of the joys and comforts of that New England 
fireside, which he had left from a pure patriot- 
ism ; and then whispered, with shame, that he 
was now ragged and covered with vermin. 

On arriving at New Orleans the remaining 
stores were given to the St. James Hotel, then 
appropriated as a hospital, and the surgeons in 
attendance expressed their great indebtedness to 
the Commission, saying, that these stores ena- 
bled them to double the comfort of their men. 
At the same time a fresh supply of beef-stock, 
condensed milk, whisky, and brandy arrived 



20i THE UNITED STATES 

from the depots of the Commission, and were 
distributed, as needed, to the different hospitals 
about the city. A free use of these stores was 
marked, after a short time, by the rapid change 
and recovery of convalescents. 

At many of the posts it was impossible to 
obtain food suitable for the sick. In New Or- 
leans everything commanded an enormous price, 
and, moreover, could only be obtained through 
the hospital fund, which did not then exist in a 
single instance. These stores of the Commis- 
sion were therefore doubled in a cash estimate 
from the original value, and were in fact inval- 
uable to the surgeons who could draw on them 
freely for their sick and convalescents. Many 
lives were saved and many thanks were ren- 
dered from grateful hearts for this bountiful 
expression of the sympathy which lives in loyal 
bosoms ; and rebels were staggered by the sight. 

The relations of the Commission and its In- 
spector to the officers of the Army were con- 
stantly of the most favorable kind. General 
Butler repeatedly gave assurances of his high 
appreciation of the efforts of the Commission, 
and there was scarcely an officer of the command 
but was ready and willing to listen to the many 
suggestions which were made for the removal 
of existing wrongs and imprudences. The med- 
ical essays of the Commission were freely dis- 
tributed, and gladly received by the surgeons, 
who, with the regimental officers, were awakened 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 205 

to a sense of the necessity of sanitary measures ; 
and it is believed that the improved condition 
of the troops in this department is largely owing 
in this way to the Commission. 

In the summer of 1862, the field of inspec- 
tion and relief in the Gulf Department included 
the forces stationed at Fort Pickens. Fort Bar- 
rancas, Ship Island ; Forts Pike, Macomb, Jack- 
son, and St. Philip ; Carrollton, Bonnet- Carr^, 
Donaldsonville, Thibodeaux, Brashear City, and 
the forces in New Orleans. 

The general and regimental hospitals in those 
places were visited systematically, and their 
wants relieved ; but, as a general thing, they 
were well conducted and well supplied. In 
every instance a hospital fund had been created, 
and those hospitals near to the city were able 
to buy in the markets both for themselves and 
the other hospitals beyond them. The winter 
passed away in the current issue of supplies, 
and in a most careful inspection of regiments, 
from which valuable information is now being 
derived. 

Expedition into the Teche Country. — On the 
arrival of General Banks's expedition early in 
1863, the Commission forces were increased 
by Dr. Crane and others, bringing with them 
more than $17,000 worth of fresh supplies. 
When the expedition moved into the Teche 
country in March, 1863, Dr. Crane, and Mr. 
Mitchell, relief agent, left New Orleans for 



206 THE UNITED STATES 

Baton Rouge, with General Banks and Staff 
On the General's arrival, the Army moved for- 
ward at once, leaving its sick, an aggregate of 
2400, to be cared for in Baton Rouge. Contra- 
dictory orders, vacillations, and final hurry, 
caused much confusion in the work. Three 
fourths of the sick were left on the bare floor of 
barracks ; some were in deserted camps, and the 
majority left in charge of a few nurses, their 
surgeons being of course with the regiments. 
The depot of the Commission being estab- 
lished at Baton Rouge, every assistance was 
rendered to these unfortunate men, while at 
the same time supplies were sent forward with 
the Army. 

Had an engagement occurred, as all expected, 
and had Baton Rouge been filled with wounded 
men, the services of the Commission, ready as 
it was for the emergency, would have been 
signal. It is, however, none the less a satis- 
faction to know that, what work there was, it 
did well, and that hundreds of sick were ben- 
efited and made comfortable by its presence at 
this point. 

The attack on Port Hudson proved a feint ; 
and the Army returned within a week to its 
quarters at Baton Rouge, where it found the 
benefits of the depot of the Commission. Dur- 
ing this brief period, three thousand articles of 
clothing and six hundred pounds of beef-stock, 
condensed milk, &c., were issued from it. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 207 

The advance towards Port Hudson was but 
the first step to a series of brilliant movements 
on the part of the Army, each one of which was 
followed by the Commission. Agents and sup- 
plies were pushed forward to Brashear City, fol- 
lowing the advance of the Army to the 'Red River. 
When an engagement occurred, and the wounded 
were sent to the rear beyond Franklin, they were 
taken in charge by the Sanitary Commission, 
and conveyed for the most part in steamers to 
New Orleans. Indeed all, but fifty-seven severe 
cases left at Brashear City, were thus removed 
by the agents of the Commission, who gathered 
up on their way the sick upon the Teche, at 
Pattersonville, and at other places. As the 
Army rested at Opelousas and Washington, en 
route to Alexandria, its wants were studied and 
relieved by the Commission. Five hundred 
pounds of ice, with condensed milk, appear 
among the items issued at the request of the 
medical director. Each wing of the Army in- 
vesting Port Hudson was accompanied by an 
Inspector and Relief Agent, with a depot of 
stores useful in the daily supply routine, and 
ready for any emergency. During all the mil- 
itary operations against Port Hudson, on the 
battle-fields of May 27th and June 4th, and at 
Springfield Landing, the agents of the Commis- 
sion attended to the removal of the wounded, 
and to the care of them at Baton Rouge, to 
which place they were conveyed. The Inspect- 



208 THE UNITED STATES 

or's head-quarters were with General Weitzel 
on the right. An estimation of the services 
he and the other agents rendered during this 
campaign can be formed from the fact that 
some officers who had looked on the Commis- 
sion as a " meddlesome concern," now volun- 
tarily went to the Inspector, and, surrendering 
their old ideas, thanked him for what had 
been done by the agents of the Sanitary Com- 
mission.* 

At the present moment, the thoughts of those 
stationed in New Orleans under the charge of 
Dr. Blake turn to the expedition preparing un- 
der General Banks. 

A " Woman's Union Aid Society " — or rather, 
in this instance, let us say a " Union Women's 
Aid Society" — is at work in New Orleans. 
" I bade them God speed," says the Inspector ; 
" their work is useful as an example of loyal 
principle, besides its value in actual results." 
And here at the North we echo his benediction. 



Army in North Carolina. — The next great 
point of attack and lodgment on the Southern 
Atlantic coast was first reached by the expedi- 
tion mider General Burnside, which left the har- 
bor of New York, and rendezvoused at Fortress 
Monroe, sailing thence at midnight, January 
11th, 1862. 

* See Appendix K. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 209 

With this expedition sailed an agent of the 
Sanitary Commission. At its dreary resting- 
place on Hatteras, the stores of the Commission 
became at once important. General Burnside 
issued immediate orders to put the regiments 
into marching condition. The sick were to be 
sent into one of the barracks. But how were 
they to be provided for ? A hundred of them 
arrived before dark, and before dark the Com- 
mission had arrived also. A hundred beds were 
ready, with blankets and pillows for the weary 
heads, and food and stimulants for the exhausted 
and fevered bodies. The relief which this timely 
aid gave to the surgeons, the satisfaction which 
it brought alike to officers and men, and espe- 
cially to the medical staff, can only be realized 
by one in actual contact with the utter desola- 
tion of the forsaken sand-spit on which this 
military post was established, — where the 
elements were in constant strife, seeming to be 
presided over by evil genii possessed with the 
spirit of eternal unrest. 

Reaching Roanoke Island, the Commission 
found that, although the hospitals were suffer- 
ing from a dearth of supplies, medicines, sick- 
food, and furniture, yet the sick, especially 
the wounded, were doing well, owing, beyond 
a doubt, to well constructed, or rather well ven- 
tilated barracks, and to the conscientious care 
of their surgeons. 

The energy with which General Burnside 
14 



210 THE UNITED STATES 

pushed on his preparations for a forward move- 
ment left but few of the troops in situ long 
enough for purposes of inspection ; and the 
attention of the Inspectors was more partic- 
ularly given to the hospitals, on which the 
supplies held by the Commission were freely 
bestowed : — supplies w^hich were available at 
a time when they were most grateful both to 
the surgeons and patients. The generous recep- 
tion of the Commission by many of the general 
and other officers, and their cordial promise to 
facilitate the work in every way, did much to 
encourage and cheer those who had it in hand ; 
one of whom remarks, — " In fact it was within 
the lines of the Army that I first began to appre- 
ciate the high estimation in which the Sanitary 
Commission is held by the service." 

When the advance on Newbern commenced, 
the Commission was called upon to replenish 
the already exhausted stock of stimulants, anaes- 
thetics, and narcotics, besides supplying other 
necessary and useful articles. For instance : 
the colonel of a Massachusetts regiment told the 
Inspector that one or two hundred of his men 
were about to start on the expedition, with the 
prospect of forced marches and hard fighting, but 
with no stockings on their feet. The Inspector 
gave an order on a depot of the Commission 
which the regiment was to pass on its way forth. 
A few days later he received grateful acknowl- 
edgments on behalf of the regiment, which bore 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 211 

a gallant and honorable part in the victory 
which ensued. 

General Burnside, with his wise forethought 
for the good of his men, permitted and aided 
the Commission to follow him to Newbern ; 
detailing men to its service, giving its vessel a 
position in the fleet, and promising that it should 
be taken seasonably to a point at which the 
stores of the Commission could be most readily 
available on the scene of action. Large supplies 
were left for the hospitals at Roanoke Island, 
and then the Commission went forward with 
the Army. 

After the battle, it found ample occasion to 
bless the kindness which had placed it where it 
could be most useful. Its stores were landed 
on the battle-field, where, in many instances, so 
great was the emergency, so pressing the de- 
mand, that an exhausted Commissariat could not 
meet it. The stores of the Medical Purveyor, 
for which there was no transportation, were still 
at Roanoke Island, whither all requisitions had 
to be sent. The Commission then became, as 
it were, a necessary department of the service^ 
and the right arm of the Medical Director, who 
more than once acknowledged heartily the timely 
relief. 

In the establishment of hospitals at Newbern, 
the Commission gave much assistance ; also, in 
the shipment of wounded for the North. After 
this, it fell back into its steady routine, — that 



212 THE UNITED STATES 

routine which quietly goes on, in every part of 
the land, wherever the United States troops are 
to be found, and which is only broken in upon 
by special emergencies. 

One little proof may be given here of the 
results of inspection and respectful advice. The 
Inspector found that, from the peculiarity of 
the soil, the water was impure, and filled with 
poisonous vegetable decay and mould. He sub- 
mitted to General Burnside a paper suggesting 
a simple means, based on natural laws, by which 
to remedy this alartning evil. The paper was 
read at a council in the General's tent, and the 
plan adopted. The General gave orders that the 
necessary material should be supplied the next 
morning, and requested the Inspector to super- 
intend the construction of as many wells as the 
various camps required. Wherever the design 
was faithfully carried out, its object was real- 
ized. It is refreshing to find recorded, in a re- 
port of the Inspector some months later, that 
the hospitals at Newbern were " liberally sup- 
plied by the Medical Purveyor. They are," he 
says, " models of neatness and systematic ar- 
rangement in their wards, sinks, out-houses, 
and grounds." And such they have continued 
to the present time. 

Army in South Carolina. — When the expe- 
dition to South Carolina sailed under Captain 
Dupont, Oct. 29, 1861, (that glorious expedition 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 213 

whose naval fame shall last forever,) an In- 
spector and relief agent of the Sanitary Com- 
mission went with it. The supply of medicines, 
surgical instruments, and hospital stores fur- 
nished to the expedition had been inadequate, 
and the greater part of what there really was 
had been thrown overboard, to lighten the ship 
in the great gale which the fleet encountered. 
These deficiencies were most severely felt. The 
abundant supply brought by Dr. Andrews, In- 
spector of the Commission, was more than 
sufficient to meet all immediate wants. On 
his first arrival at Port Royal, he found that an 
order had been issued for the vaccination of the 
troops, which could not be carried out from the 
impossibility of procuring the necessary virus. 
Dr. Andrews had with him a sufficient quantity 
to complete the re vaccination of the troops, and 
to make a good beginning towards protecting 
th^ negroes. Unfortunately, no attempt was 
made to perpetuate the virus, and the govern- 
ment supply did not arrive. The small-pox 
accordingly broke out amongst those negroes 
who had not been vaccinated, giving a frightful 
glimpse into what might have happened with- 
out that forethought of the Commission. 

In February, 1863, in view of the impending 
struggle in South Carolina and Georgia, a corps 
of Sanitary Commission Inspectors and relief 
agents, composed of excellent and tried men, 
possessed of experience in similar fields, was 



214 THE UNITED STATES 

ordered to proceed at once to Port Eoyal, and 
establish a station at the nearest possible point 
to the national forces. On their arrival they re- 
ceived the approval of Major-General Hunter. 
The necessary orders were issued from Head- 
quarters to the quartermaster's and other de- 
partments, and to the post-commander at Beau- 
fort, S. C, where immediate steps were taken to 
establish the depot of the Commission. 

At that period, speedy and extensive military 
movements were impending ; and the agents of 
the Commission, ambitious that relief should be 
as prompt within their province as it had been 
on many memorable battle-fields, pressed for- 
ward their preparations with vigor and zeal. 
The various hospitals in Beaufort and Hilton 
Head were visited, their resources and appliances 
inquired into, their wants ascertained, and the 
surgeons in charge invited (as usual) to draw 
upon the stores of the Commission for those 
supplies which they could not otherwise obtain 
for the comfort of their men. 

For some time this regular " Commission rou- 
tine " went on. " The Cosmopolitan," a large 
hospital transport, able to carry 400 men, and 
held by the Government to follow the move- 
ments of the Army, was furnished liberally from 
its stores. 

In no respect was the Army at this time in 
South Carolina as well supplied as the other 
armies in the field ; nor had the troops the en- 



SANITARY COMMISSION". 215 

durance, energy, and enthusiasm that have dis- 
tinguished the Armies of the Potomac and the 
Cumberland, in their alternate triumphs and de- 
feats. Under these circumstances, no one could 
contemplate the approaching military operations 
without the most mournful forebodings. 

The sufferings of the sick, when discharged 
from the service and sent home, pressed ear- 
nestly on the attention of the agents of the Com- 
mission. They were, habitually, placed in the 
steerage of the various boats bound North, with- 
out attendants, and unprovided, in many in- 
stances, with even straw to lie upon. Poor 
fellows just recovered from severe illness, or 
broken down by it, — some with bed-sores from 
long confinement, — suffered greatly. The Com- 
mission at once began to supply these men with 
necessaries ; and having called the attention of 
General Hunter to the abuse, it was reformed. 
A medical officer was sometimes sent with the 
men ; but from that time an orderly was in- 
variably detailed to wait upon them during the 
voyage. 

A faithful band of Commission agents is at 
work at Beaufort and Hilton Head at the pres- 
ent moment, when all eyes are turned to that 
spot. The work is in charge of Dr. Marsh, 
who, with his wife, is watching before Charleston 
for those opportunities to give relief, which are 
a painful joy to such as are engaged in the ser- 
vice. During the summer, vegetables and ice 



216 THE UNITED STATES 

have been liberally issued from their depot, to- 
gether with an immense amount of supplies, sent 
chiefly from the branch depot in New York. The 
Commission has a good-sized brig, employed 
as a store-ship, stationed with the fleet in the 
harbor of Charleston.- Mrs. Marsh writes: " The 
brig sailed from here on the 8th with stores which 
would gladden the hearts of those who have 
friends exposed. The effect of these home offer- 
ings brings tears to the eyes and encouragement 

to the hearts of men ready to die On 

Sunday some 200 men were brought to Hilton 
Head. I hear that the Commission is operating 
very successfully with men and appliances sta- 
tioned at intervals from the front to the hospi- 
tal-ships stationed seven miles in the rear." 

On the day of the first attack on Fort Wag- 
ner, the men were in fine spirits ; and the Com- 
mission, in the anxious hope to strengthen them 
for their work, passed through the ranks giving 
to each man hot soup and crackers. Previous 
to the engagement each little squad of the Com- 
mission people had its duties assigned, and dis- 
charged them in such a manner as to win the 
public approbation of the U. S. Medical Direc- 
tor. He w^as heard, during and subsequent to 
the removal of the wounded to the ship, to ex- 
claim, " God bless the Sanitary Commission ! " 
General Strong, Colonel Chatfield, and other 
officers requested, when carried from the field, 
to be taken to the quarters of the Commission. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 2l7 

The Port Royal Free Press (an army news- 
paper) says : " The officers of the United States 
Sanitary Commission have won for themselves a 
splendid reputation in this department. They 
have by their discretion and zeal saved many 
valuable lives. Under the guns of Wagner, in 
the hottest of the fire, their trained corps picked 
up and carried off" the wounded almost as fast as 
they fell. As many of our men were struck 
while ascending the parapet, and then rolled into 
the moat, which at high tide contains six feet of 
water, they must inevitably have perished had 
they been suffered to remain. But the men who 
were detailed for service with Dr. Marsh, went 
about their work with an intrepidity and cool- 
ness worthy of all praise. The skill and expe- 
rience of the members of the Commission have, 
since the battle, been unremittingly employed 
to render comfortable the sick and wounded." 
. In a recent letter from Mrs. Marsh, she says : 
" A soldier from the 115th New York came into 
the office and inquired, ' If they ever paid money 
here ? ' To my reply, that everything was gra- 
tuitous, he answered, ' Oh, yes ! I know that. I 
have never needed anything myself, but I have 
seen others made so comfortable through your 
aid that I want to give a little something to be 
expended for somebody ; ' and laying down one 
dollar he insisted that it should be thus appro- 
priated. Not only are the material wants of 
the soldier met by the liberal gifts of the coun 



218 THE UNITED STATES 

try, but they encourage him in the belief that he 

is not forgotten in his toil Many an eye 

moistens at the thought of this link which binds 
the battle-field, to the home." 

We close this sketch with an extract from a 
letter already published in a Boston newspaper, 
which has the merit of impartiality, and with a 
General Order which speaks for itself. 

" It is but just that I should notice, in con- 
nection with accounts of military affairs in this 
department, the operations of the Sanitary Com- 
mission here, under direction of its able and 
ejSicient manager, Dr. M. M. Marsh. I regret 
that some correspondents have either entirely ig- 
nored its presence, or declined awarding to it the 
high meed of praise to which the unremitting 
and indefatigable exertions of its agents, both 
in camp and upon the field of battle, have so 
eminently entitled it. I cannot, however, do 
better than give you facts which speak for it in 
abler and more potent language than I can com- 
mand. The exertions of its agents for the pres- 
ervation of the health of our troops during their 
almost superhuman labors in the trenches upon 
Morris and Folly Islands, as well as their timely 
and efficient aid in promoting the comfort of our 
sick and wounded during and after the engage- 
ments, form a theme of praise to which I confess 
the incompetency of my pen to do justice ; but 
if the securing of an abundance of necessary 
supplies, and a liberal distribution of them a' 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 219 

each and every point where they were absolutely 
indispensable, constitute an element of success 
in the working of a relief association, these 
gentlemen have certainly demonstrated, not only 
the wisdom of the plans of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, but the preeminent success of their 
practical working upon the fields and in the 
camps throughout this entire campaign 

" No faithful record of the services of these 
gentlemen upon the ever-memorable night of 
the 18th of July ever has or ever can be wiitten. 
They seemed ubiquitous upon the field, remov- 
ing the wounded, burying the dead, or staying 
the life-current where the bright red stain from a 
severed artery upon the white sands of the beach 
betokened its speedy ebb ; and at the post hos- 
pital aiding in the operations, and up the dock 
receiving and disposing of the poor fellows as 
they were hurried on board, they seemed every- 
where present. 

" All were loud in their praise, and by none 
were their services more highly appreciated than 
by the medical faculty, with whom they worked 
hand in hand, and who, from skilled experience 
upon such occasions, were best competent to 
estimate the value of their services." 



220 THE U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION. 



"Department of the South, 

Head-quarters in the Field, 
Morris Island, S. C, September 9. 

" General Orders, No. 73. 

"The Brigadier- General commanding desires 
to make this public acknowledgment of the ben- 
efits for which his command has been indebted to 
the United States Sanitary Commission, and to. 
express his thanks to the gentlemen whose 
humane efforts, in procuring and distributing 
much-needed articles of comfort, have so mate- 
rially alleviated the sufferings of the soldiers. 

" Especial gratitude is due to Dr. M. M. 
Marsh, Medical Inspector of the Commission, 
through whose efficiency, energy, and zeal the 
wants of the troops have been promptly ascer- 
tained, and the resources of the Commission 
made available for every portion of the Army. 

" By order of Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, 

" Ed. W. Smith, Asst. Adj. Gen, 

« Official : 

«J. S. Sealy, 

''Capt, U. S. A., Act. Asst. Adj. GenJ' 



PART III. 

DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EELIEF. 

This Department is organized for the relief 
and care of discharged soldiers, though other 
work is connected with it. It is under the direc- 
tion of Mr. F. N. Knapp, « Special Relief Agent " 
of the Commission. The Commission, in assist- 
ing invalid soldiers, has thus far limited itself 
to the care of them whilst they are in that inter- 
mediate condition between the military and 
civil states, — no longer under the charge of 
regimental officers, or of hospitals, nor yet pro- 
tected by their homes. In this state the Com- 
mission, by its various agencies, (providing lodg- 
ing-houses and food, rescuing them from the 
hands of sharpers, collecting pensions and pay, 
correcting their defective papers, giving them 
medical treatment and nursing when required,) 
seeks to be the guardian of the soldiers whilst 
they are thus in transitu; endeavors to protect 
them in their rights, and to see that all imme- 
diate needs growing out of their disabled con- 
dition are met by corresponding provision for 
temporary supply and relief. But the Commis- 
sion, thus far, in making this provision, has 



222 THE UNITED STATES 

endeavored to limit itself to the care 6i the 
soldier whilst he is in this intermediate state. 
It takes care of him after leaving the hospital ; 
transacts his business ; puts him through by 
railroad to his home : and here usually its respon- 
sibility ends. Now, however, the question is 
forced upon it. Does Us work rightly end here ? 
We turn from this subject a while, to tell the 
story of special relief up to this point, — which 
must open with the remark, that the arrange- 
ments for this Relief are becoming daily more 
generally known, applied for, and appreciated 
throughout the Army ; and that the cooperation 
of the Medical Department, and of the Quarter- 
master's, Commissary's, and Paymaster's De- 
partments has been, if possible, still more ready 
and cordial than before. 

The first point to which we turn is the "Home " 
in Washington, (on North Capitol Street.) 
Its leading objects are briefly these : — To give 
food and lodging, care and assistance, to men 
who are honorably discharged from service, and 
who are afterwards delayed in obtaining their 
papers and pay ; to communicate with distant 
regiments on behalf of discharged men whose 
papers prove defective, who, without such succor, 
would fall into the hands of claim-agents, and 
even suffer want ; to act as an unpaid agent for 
those too feeble to present their own claims for 
pay or pension at the paymaster's ; to send them 
by railroad^ in care of a railway agent who will 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 223 

protect them from sharpers, and put them 
through to their destination ; to see that dis- 
charged men leave at once for their homes, not 
falling a prey to temptation and evil company ; 
to make them reasonably neat and clean, 
and to furnish them with the necessary means 
of reaching home, if, on investigation, their des- 
titution and need is proved ; and to be prepared 
to meet at once, with food and other aid, such 
necessities as arise when sick men, discharged 
from service, arrive in Washington in large 
numbers, from hospitals or distant fields of ser- 
vice. The only condition imposed on this relief 
is, that each man shall present his certificate of 
discharge. 

In addition to this service there is another, — 
an occasional one. Whenever men have been 
brought to Washington or Alexandria, in large 
numbers, from battle-fields and hospitals, this 
agency has ministered at once to their relief. 
Not long since notice was sent in: "500 sick 
and wounded are on their way to Washington 
by the canal-boats ; can you do something for 
them ? " By the time the boats arrived, the 
special relief agents were ready with a wagon- 
load of supplies, — bitterly needed, as it chanced ; 
for the men had come through a country full of 
guerrillas, no supplies had reached them, and 
they were destitute of everything. 

At the present moment the " Home " is larger 
than it has ever been. A new building has been 



224 THE UNITED STATES 

added, and it now makes up 320 beds, including 
the hospital, where such as are reduced by 
disease are kept until they are able to travel. 
Frequently they are too far gone to make even 
the care bestowed upon them available to save 
life. The record, for a period of nine months, 
sadly shows that 935 very sick men were re- 
ceived during that time, of which number sixty- 
one died. 

A visit to this " Home " will indeed repay the 
visitor. Its condition does credit to the Super- 
intendent, — a frank, cheerful man, with a look 
of kindly but keen intelligence. The beds are 
all clean, and ready for their night's occupants ; 
there is a cheerful reading-room ; several bath- 
rooms ; a convenient wash-room ; a baggage- 
room, where the knapsacks are ticketed and put 
away, with a care which many fine general 
hospitals would do well to imitate ; and, lastly, 
on the ground-floor, is a large and lofty room, — 
the hospital, where the men seem resting, not 
only from bodily anguish, but, for the brief 
moment of their sojourn there, resting in the 
sense that a care is over them which puts aside 
their own anxieties. No one can look at the 
sweet, grave face of the matron (one who did 
her part in the Peninsular campaign) and see 
her work, without comprehending the senti- 
ments of these men, expressed oftentimes with 
the pathos which this war has taught us to hear 
as an every-day sound. The diary of the pres- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 225 

ent physician of the " Home," Dr. Smith, tells 
many little stories such as this : — " One of the 
men said to me, whilst sitting in the hospital 
and looking upon the completion of arrangements 
for his departure, ' Doctor, I have been so kindly 
treated here, and been helped so much more 
than at any time since my sickness, that I'm 
afraid to go beyond that door.' " 

There is one sad thought connected with this 
" Home " to those who know its history. It is 
the death of Dr. Grymes, its first physician. 
He, too, served on the Peninsula, as surgeon 
of " The Daniel Webster " transport ; and the 
constant thought of those who looked at the 
energy of that frail body, and saw the inward 
fire that consumed it, was, that he knew he was 
a dying man, and would alleviate death and 
suffering in others so long as life was in him. 
And the feeling was just. After the campaign, 
he returned to his old service at the " Home." 
His house was but a few paces off, and he con- 
tinued to come to his work until it took him 
more than half an hour to get over those few 
paces. Then he died. 

From December, 1862, to October 1st, 1863, 
7187 persons have been received into this 
" Home." Since it opened, 86,986 nights' lodg- 
ings have been furnished, and 331,315 meals 
provided. "Homes" of the same description 
are maintained by the Commission, and con- 
ducted in an admirable manner, at Boston, 

15 



226 THE UNITED STATES 

Nashville, Cairo, Memphis, Louisville, Cleve- 
land, and Cincinnati. Since they were estab- 
lished, (Cincinnati, one of the largest and most 
efficient, excepted,) the whole number of nights' 
lodgings furnished by these " Homes " of the 
Commission amounts to 198,963 ; the number 
of meals furnished, to 659,160. 

In Washington, lesser Homes, or " Lodges," 
have been maintained in the vicinity of railroads. 
Lodge No. 2 was discontinued, as no longer 
needed, after it had furnished 1500 beds and 
2130 meals. Lodge No. 3 was likewise closed 
after furnishing 3760 beds and 17,960 meals. 
Lodge No. 4 has been lately established, and is 
immediately connected with the Paymaster's 
Department. Up to October 1st, 1863, it had fur- 
nished 9832 beds and 50,096 meals. This Lodge 
is one of the most interesting. Its cheerful 
white-washed buildings cluster around a planked 
court, brightened at the corners with little 
squares of turf, and leading at one end to the 
large waiting-room of the United States Pay 
Department. Making the circuit of the court, 
and looking into its various little houses, we 
come first upon the " Pension Office," and then 
upon the " Ticket Office," and so into the store- 
room, with its hanging rows of hams and bacon ; 
lockers of tea, sugar, and all that 's nice ; next 
into the kitchen, clean and savory ; then into 
the dining-room with a capital meal upon the 
table, — and lo ! a table-cloth and china cups, 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 227 

first waft of home: — and so round into the 
Special Relief Office, with its ledgers and letter- 
books, — the grave explanation of the rest. To 
this office are now sent from the Pay Depart- 
ment (hitherto the Commission has had to hunt 
them up) all those soldiers, who, by reason of 
defective papers, &c., &c., cannot draw their 
pay. The case is noted, the man cheered and 
fed, lodged if necessary, and perhaps righted at 
once. If his difficulties are great, involving a 
long correspondence, (sometimes ten letters are 
written to clear up one case,) he is sent to his 
home, leaving his care upon the Commission. 
And as he leaves the Relief Office, some one 
takes him across the planked court to the ticket 
office, where he is checked through to his home 
at half price; and so good-bye to him. The 
last mention of his name will be found a 
week or two later on the letter-book, in some 
such record as this : — 

" Peter Jones : Sir, — Please find your dis- 
charge and draft for $177, being the amount 
of your pay. Please acknowledge and oblige 
"J. B. Abbott, 
''' Assistant Special Relief Agents 

Connected with this Lodge is the Pension 
Agency, which has been in operation for 
eight months past, with branches in Philadel- 
phia, Boston, Chicago, Louisville, and Cincinnati. 
The Examining- Surgeon and Director were both 



228 THE UNITED STATES 

appointed by the United States Commissioner 
of Pensions. The services rendered to the sol- 
dier are entirely gratuitous in Washington and 
Philadelphia, but in Boston there is a small 
charge, the organization there not having orig- 
inated in the Commission. This agency has 
proved most beneficent in many ways ; it has 
saved to the soldiers already an aggregate ex- 
pense of $7000, and has rescued them from 
imposition and from a vast amount of trouble 
and anxiety. 

Another service rendered to the soldier is the 
collection of his " back-pay." It was found that 
many men in hospital, with families sorely in 
need of as much as they could give them, were 
unable to obtain what was due to them ; or, at 
least, that it was so tied up as to be beyond 
their power to collect it. An agent of the Com- 
mission authorized by the Paymaster's Depart- 
ment, has entered on the work of investigation 
and the removal of difficulties. In the Stanton 
Hospital alone, the back-pay of fifty-six men, 
thus procured, in one week amounted to 
$3008.96, almost every dollar of which was 
sent to their families. " Cast your bread upon 
the waters and ye shall find it after many days," 
might be the thought of some of those wives 
and mothers who had given their mite to the 
Commission. 

Lodge No. 5, near 6th Street Wharf, is a little 
place memorable for great things : giving food 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 229 

to the sick and wounded arriving by boat from 
Acquia Creek, and furnishing supplies to such 
boats, returning for fresh loads of wounded, as 
had no suitable provision for feeding the men 
on board. An ambulance is kept at this Lodge 
to take the men to the " Home." The Superin- 
tendent visits each boat as it arrives, and renders 
immediate assistance to the sick and wounded. 
No true account can of course be kept of issues 
like these ; but on the 15th and 16th of June, 
1863, it is recorded, in the Superintendent's re- 
ports, that the number of men met at the land- 
ing, and refreshed with a meal, was over five 
thousand ; and amongst them several hundred 
seriously wounded. 

The next Lodge is at the junction of the 
Washington and Alexandria and Orange Rail- 
roads. Colonel Devereux, Superintendent of the 
road, telegraphs to Washington when trains are 
starting with wounded, so that the Lodge may 
be ready to receive them as they arrive. Before 
this arrangement was made, the effect of mov- 
ing badly wounded men, after such a journey, 
without fortifying them with food or stimulants, 
was so disastrous that many fainted from ex- 
haustion ; and of ninety men who were thus 
taken on one occasion to the Stanton Hospital, 
four died in a few hours, and one dropped dead 
as he tried to reach his bed. 

Another lodge, called the " Soldier's Rest," is 
lin Alexandria, "the gateway of the Array of 



230 THE UNITED STATES 

the Potomac,"* — at the terminus of the same 
railroad, — established to succor and shelter the 
sick and wounded, who are frequently detained 
at that point before they can be transported to 
Washington. Since its establishment, in August, 
1863, to October 1st, the number of lodgings 
furnished was 604 ; of meals, 5980. 

There is also a relief station of the Com- 
mission, of great importance, at the Convales- 
cent Camp in Alexandria ; it is managed effi- 
ciently and successfully by Miss Bradley, once 
in charge of the " Home." She has the coop- 
eration and confidence of all the officers of the 
post. Her ambulances come daily into Wash- 
ington, bringing discharged men, whom she 
accompanies to the Pay and Pension Offices, 
or to the railroads. Within four months she 
has thus brought in men whose pay amounted 
to more than $100,000. 

As the old Convalescent Camp (Camp Misery, 
it was called) has brought such dishonor upon 
the name, it will not be superfluous to speak 
of the condition of the present one. In Decem- 
ber, 1862, orders were issued to break up the 
old camp and prepare the ground for another. 
The present matron applied at once to be sent 
there as Sanitary Commission Agent. When 

* This was the favorite expression of the faithful superin- 
tendent of this lodge, James Richardson, who died Nov. 12th, 
1863, from the hard, unceasing labor which he gave to his 
duties. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 231 

she arrived, there were one thousand men on the 
ground, and no tents pitched. Her first act was 
the distribution of clothing ; her next, to get two 
large hospital tents pitched, into which the sick- 
est men were taken. This hospital she kept up 
till April, when the barracks were completed. 
One hundred and twenty-three sick men were 
admitted during that time, nursed and made 
comfortable ; the Commission supplying clothes, 
chickens, butter, farina, brandy, everything in 
fact but the ordinary ration. In the beginning 
of January, a new commander of the post. Col- 
onel McKelvey, and a new surgeon in charge, 
arrived ; and, from that time, rapid improvements 
have been made, until those who now visit the 
ground are made to forget the horrible reproach 
attaching to the name of " Convalescent Camp." 
Still, no one can go there, even now, without 
perceiving the curse which is upon all convales- 
cent men in hospital, — the curse of having 
nothing to do. 

The last branch of Special Relief which we 
shall name here (there are others) is the '' Nurses' 
Home"; of which there is one in Washington 
and one in Annapolis, where women-nurses sick 
and weary for the time can rest. These houses 
have become lodges for the wives and mothers 
of men in hospital, who frequently come to 
Washington or Annapolis without thought of 
cost, and considering nothing but the dear face 
to be seen at the end of their journey. Utterly 



232 THE UNITED STATES 

destitute, helpless, sometimes broken-hearted, 
they are found by the Commission, which re- 
ceives and shelters them in the " Nurses' Home." 
This has proved, in its working, one of the A;mG?- 
e^^charities of the Commission. 

Over all this work of Special Relief, spreading 
through the West and going off in other direc- 
tions not mentioned here, presides a man whose 
soul is in it, — whose soul is of it, — whose 
spirit is shed upon those under him, until, next 
to their desire to do their duty to the cause, 
comes, with love and reverence, the wish to be 
like him. 

And now let us ask. Does the work of the 
Commission to discharged men end here ? The 
subject is one on which the Commission, as we 
have said, has thought long and anxiously. A 
large collection of data upon the point of what 
becomes of the soldier from the time when the 
Government and the Commission leave him, 
shows that the time is at hand when some wise 
provision for the employment and support of 
discharged and disabled soldiers must be had, 
or a large class of mendicants will have estab- 
lished their necessity and their right to live upon 
the charity of the people. At the present mo- 
ment the Government has relieved the imme- 
diate pressure of the question by forming an 
Invalid Corps for service in hospitals and garri- 
sons ; but the time is perhaps near when the 
Sanitary Commission, once more called upon 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 233 

by the voice of the people, must charge itself 
with a duty left to it by the recoil of war. This 
is its work in the distant future ; but thought 
and action upon it must not be delayed too 
long, or the evils to be averted will be upon us. 
It is of the utmost consequence to begin now 
to create a public opinion, which shall compel 
the adoption of the wisest policy in municipal 
and State governments, with respect to disabled 
soldiers, so as to discourage all favor to men- 
dicity, all allowance of exceptional license to 
men who have been soldiers, all disposition of 
invalids to throw themselves, any further than 
is inevitable, on the support and protection of 
society. 

This subject is one on which we would fain 
pause to dwell at length ; but our limits will 
not allow it. A few, however, of the leading 
thoughts connected with it may be briefly given. 

First : The first obvious law of public opin- 
ion should be to deal with the question accord- 
ingAo the nature and principles of the Amer- 
ican people; to encourage and save the spirit 
of independence ; to preserve the self-respect 
and the homely graces and virtues of the peo- 
ple, on which all the real dignity and strength 
of the nation rest. 

Secondly : To make the subject a National 
and not a State question. A war against State 
pretensions should not end without strengthening 
in every way the Federal influence. This war 



234 THE UNITED STATES 

is a struggle for national existence ; we have 
found a national heart and life and body. Now 
let us cherish it. 

Thirdly : To avoid the danger of interfering 
with natural laws — a thing not to be tolerated in 
our young and healthy country — by any scheme 
of herding the invalids of war in public institu- 
tions. Such schemes would sti'ike a blow at 
domestic order and the sacredness of home 
affections, whilst they would take from the sol- 
dier that spirit of independence which is his 
birthright and his safety. We do not want a 
vast network of Soldiers' Poor - houses scat- 
tered through the land, in which these brave 
fellows will languish away dull, idle, and 
wretched lives. But we want — and this is 
the last general idea which shall be stated here : 
we want — 

Fourthly : An endeavor to promote the 
healthy absorption of the invalid class into 
their own homes, and into the ordinary industry 
of the country ; there to live and labor according 
to their remaining strength, — sustained, honored, 
and blessed by their own kindred and com- 
munity. 

The Sanitary Commission, deeply impressed 
with the importance of this subject, is spending 
thought and study upon it. For the purposes of 
instruction, it has induced Mr. Stephen H. Per- 
kins, of Boston, to prepare, during a recent visit 
abroad, a report on the pension systems and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 235 

invalid hospitals on the continent of Europe. 
This report has been a most painstaking work, 
and is of great and lasting value. Associate 
members of the Commission are also engaged 
in studying the question in its American rela- 
tions and bearings. 

In November, 1862, the Hospital Directory, 
already alluded to, (page 95,) was complete 
for the hospitals in the District of Columbia, 
and the total number of names registered was 
19,084. Encouraged by the good attained, the 
business was enlarged, until in June, 1863, the 
Directory embraced the sick and wounded sol- 
diers in every general hospital throughout the 
land, — in all 233 hospitals. The number of 
names on record, after the system was fully es- 
tablished, was 215,221. 

The total number of inquiries received in a 
period of six months for the Washington Office, 
four months for the Western Office, and ten 
weeks for the New York and Philadelphia 
Branches, was 9494. Of these inquiries no 
record is kept, but that of the simple fact, " One 
question, — one answer " ; and what a history 
of loss and misery and wild joy is hidden be- 
neath that business record ! 

A letter comes inquiring for two nephews ; 
and closes with the assertion, " These are two out 
of fourteen nephews that I have no account 
of since the battle of Fredericksburg." Of the 



236 THE UNITED STATES 

two thus inquired for, one was found in hospi- 
tal ; of the other no tidings were received. 

A mother expresses " unceasing gratitude " 
for the information that her son is " doing well." 
A father, who enters the office with hopefulj 
trembling inquiry, sinks with audible gasp into 
a chair on receiving the announcement, from 
which there is no escape, that his son is lost to 
him and to the country ; while another evinces 
almost equal emotion on being told that his boy 
is in the Craven Hospital. 

A young wife is sent to the Office to obtain 
a recommendation for a pass to visit her hus- 
band within the lines of the Army. She is im- 
patient at the " senseless delay " of consulting 
the records for his name; she ^^ knows he is in 
Nashville ; — please write the pass at once." 
" Are you sure he is there ? " " Yes," impa- 
tiently. " You would have no objection to meet 
him here ? " " You are playing with me, sir ; give 
me the pass." " You do not want it. Here are 
directions by which you will find your husband 
in the next street." If an accident had not 
brought her to the office, she would have taken 
a painful and expensive journey, and would, 
probably, have missed him, after all. 

Sometime!} it needs a strong faith in the pos- 
itive good done by this agency to endure the 
sight of what it reveals. Only a few weeks 
since, a soldier in hospital at Nashville wrote 
to his wife that he was very sick, and she must 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 237 

come to him. Two days later he was transfer- 
red to Louisville, but his letter advising her of 
the change was lost. It did not reach her. So 
she leaves home ; passes one night in Louis- 
ville, and goes to Nashville ; there she learns 
that he has left. She returns only to find that 
he died at midnight, on the very night which 
she had passed in that city. Had she gone to 
the Directory tliere, she might have once held 
him, still living, in her arms. 

An old, old man enters the office. He has 
travelled from Northern Ohio to meet his son 
in Louisville. He has been told to inquire at 
the Sanitary Commission Rooms for direction 
to the hospital which contains him. While the 
clerk turns to the book, he chats of his son, of 
home, and of the different articles in his carpet- 
bag, put in, he tells them, by the mother and 
sisters at home. He is all animation and happy 
confidence. He seems at the very door of the 
realization of his hope. The record is brought, 
— " Died " that very morning. One question, — 
one answer ! 

The cost of keeping up this Directory is about 
^1500 a month, and the Sanitary Commission 
has lately discussed the propriety of discontin- 
uing it on the ground of expense. But for the 
present it cannot bring itself to stop a work 
which is helping tens of thousands to find their 
lost ones, and spares them cost, suffering, and 
the bitterness of suspense. 



238 THE UNITED STATES 



CONCLUSIOK 



The first question that we ask as our story 
closes, and the deeds of the Commission lie 
mapped before us, is one about its supplies, — 
What have really been its means for its work? 

Some of us, perhaps, have said, in words or 
in thought, The Commission is making constant 
appeals : what can it do with all it gets ? But 
now that we have had a glimpse of its work, are 
we not inclined to change the question, and ask, 
— Has it really had supplies enough to carry on 
these gigantic operations ? How has it done so 
much ? 

It can be said in reply that the gratitude of 
the Sanitary Commission towards the People — 
which has called it into existence, given it the 
breath of life, and never ceased to pour into it 
both strength and power — is not to be ex- 
pressed in words. But it cannot be said that 
the Sanitary Commission has never been pinched 
nor hindered in its work by the want of means. 
It cannot be said that the Sanitary Commission 
has done all it might have done. Do we won- 
der, therefore, that, as it stood on many a battle- 
field, and saw anguish that it could not reach, 
death that it could not stay, it has turned in 
anxious and burning appeals towards the coun- 
try ? For the most part, those appeals have been 
answered. Yet it would not be the truth which 
this book aims to tell, if the fact were withheld 



SANITARY COMMISSIOisT. 239 

that the Sanitary Commission is in want of 
means. Oar purpose, however, is with the past, 
and we turn back to tell, with gratitude, all 
that which has been done. 

In a recent letter to the Branches from the 
Assistant Secretary, Mr. Bloor, the following 
particulars are given, which will very properly 
op8n what can here be said upon the subject: — 

" In reviewing our labors in the past, and an- 
ticipating our prospects for the future, it cannot 
fail to afford matter of remark and congratula- 
tion, to realize the extraordinary support and 
confidence which has been extended to the Com- 
mission, and through it to the national cause, 
by the loyal women of the country. For, while 
money has been freely provided for its treasury 
by the rich men of the country, from the Pacific 
to the Atlantic coast, the articles of clothing, 
and the delicacies in the way of food, provided 
by the women, — rich and poor alike, — have 
tenfold exceeded, in cash value, the donations 
of the former. And it will perhaps encourage 
your correspondents to know, what I can assure 
them is the truth, that, of some twenty thousand 
cases of invoiced goods, some of them contain- 
ing articles valued at several hundreds of dol- 
lars, which have been forwarded to this depot of 
the Commission, (Washington,) not more than 
one or two have failed to reach us ; and it may 
also be satisfactory to know, that the proportion 
of money expenditure made by the Commission 



240 THE UNITED STATES 

for the various purposes of the remuneration of 
its employSs^ rents, freight, postage, &c., and all 
other incidental outlays, does not amount to 
more than three per cent, on the cash value of 
the distributions made, through its agency, to 
the soldiers of the country. The losses by acci- 
dent or casualties of war have been so trifling 
as scarcely to be named. With regard to the 
losses by dishonesty of agents, surgeons, stew- 
ards, nurses, and soldiers, I can only say that 
every charge of this kind made to this office has 
been followed up, and has, in every instance, 
fallen through at one step or another of the 
investigation." 

To arrive at an exact estimate of the value 
of the goods which have been contributed to the 
Commission since its organization, would re- 
quire more material than is available or neces- 
sary for a sketch like this. But an approximate 
estimate has been made, in a late report of the 
Assistant Secretary, from which it can be stated 
that the gifts of the women of the country, made 
through the Sanitary Commission, exceed in 
value the sum of $7,000,000. Every woman 
who reads this book, thinking, perhaps, how 
little she has done for the Commission, sees 
here the vast result she has aided to obtain. 

There is another source of generous assistance 
which must not pass unrecorded ; namely, the 
material aid given to the Commission by many 
of the business firms and companies with which. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 241 

in various ways, it comes in contact. Many of 
the express companies, both East and West, 
carry its goods either free of charge or at re- 
duced rates, and the telegraph is free to its use 
all over the land. Its name is a password to 
constant generosity of this kind. And even 
this book owes much to the liberality of its 
publishers, — especially to that of Mr. Augus- 
tus Flagg, a member of the firm ; to whom is 
owing the fact that its entire profits go to the 
treasury of the Sanitary Commission^ 

The whole amount, in money, received by the 
Treasurer of the Sanitary Commission, from its 
organization to the 1st of October, 1863, amounts 
to $857,715.33 ; of this sum $501,101 was re- 
ceived from California. For the six months 
ending October 1st, 1863, the receipts were 
$115,752.42. The disbursements for the same 
period were $281,099.15. 

It is clear, therefore, that fresh moneyed strength 
must be given to the Commission, or its work 
must be cut down. This question is, perhaps, the 
heaviest weight upon the minds of the Commis- 
sion ; for, although the supplies have, of late, 
diminished sensibly, it is felt that they d^xe always 
comparatively secure: but without the money 
to place them where they are needed, even they 
will prove comparatively inefficient, and become 
reduced in actual value. 

16 



242 THE UNITED STATES 

From this subject we turn to one which stands, 
perhaps, in juxtaposition to it, in the minds of 
many ; namely, to complaints against the San- 
itary Commission, its administration, its agents, 
and its use of the public gifts, which are heard 
from time to time. This is a subject which the 
Sanitary Commission declines to enter upon 
controversially. In some few cases, a brief 
reply has been made ; but, as a rule, it has con- 
tented itself with asking that all complaints 
be brought to it for temperate examination, and, 
if need be, for correction. Many of them have 
proved to be unfounded; many more could never 
be induced to come into the daylight of investi- 
gation. There is one class of complaint, how- 
ever, which is incapable either of proof or of 
refutation ; but as the writer claims to have the 
ability of giving it its true answer, it will be 
mentioned here. 

A painful and anxious note was lately received 
at the central office, in Washington, from a 
lady deeply engaged in one of its branches, en- 
closing a letter from the secretary of an auxiliary 
society. The letter was as follows : — 

" Much commotion is caused here by the re- 
turn of soldiers who are feeble, who have got 
a furlough for ill health. They report great 
neglect in the hospitals. One gentleman in 
particular, — one of our townsmen, a man whose 
good word goes a great way — is believed, in 
short. He says the sick and wounded do not 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 243 

get the luxuries and delicacies sent to them, and 
designed by the donors expressly for them. He 
was sick in a hospital in Washington, and would 
have died had he stayed there. He has perfect 
confidence in the surgeon in charge, but distrusts 
the steward. He says, sick as they were, they 
never saw a delicacy. A sick man, getting well, 
needs something besides a piece of salt pork 

and dry bread for his dinner All the 

luxuries he saw, were, as he passed through the 
steward's room, and found his table loaded with 
luxuries, jellies, dried fruits, &c. Knowing his 
wife, at home, engaged in the preparation of 
these things for the sick and wounded, he thought 
he might have chanced to get something from 
her hands (comforting thought to the sick sol- 
dier !) 

" Now, I ask, where were all the delicacies 
designed for the sick ? Where did that steward 
get so much for his own table ? There are some 
places, near here, which have done nobly, and 
are now doing nothing, because of these things. 

We have some that won't do anything, 

for the reason above ; some that are willing to 
do, even if the poor soldier gets only half ; others 
who mean to send what they have to give else- 
where. I have battled these reports so long 
that it is folly to do so any more." 

It is certainly a coincidence that a few days 
before the lady of the branch enclosed this let- 
ter to the central office, her mother was at a 



244 THE UNITED STATES 

hospital where the writer was in charge of a 
department. This lady requested the writer to 
obtain for her some of the " Mess-Hall diet," 
that she might herself judge if it was good. An 
orderly was despatched over the way to the Mess 
Hall, where the men were at dinner. When the 
diet was brought, she ate it with enjoyment and 
praise, and, in fact, iined upon it. Whilst she 
was eating it, the writer was called out to speak 
to a patient : " If you please, ma'am," said he, 
" do give me an order for something out of the 
diet-kitchens ; I can't eat such stuff as we had in 
the Mess Hall to-day." That patient was a per- 
fectly conscientious, reliable man, who will leave 
the hospital under the idea that the food was 
execrable. 

In the same hospital, on a regularly recurring 
day, a certain stew was prepared for dinner. It 
was thoroughly good, and better than anything 
that appeared on the table of any of the officers 
of the post. When the day for it came round, 
the detail of men appointed to draw the extra 
and special diet would say to the woman in 
charge of the kitchen: "What is it to-day? 
Wednesday — S-t-e-w," — (and we all know 
how the intonation can be made to rhyme with 
" eugh ! " and " pugh I ") " then give us the tea 
and the pudding, for our men won't eat that^ 
And, true enough, they would actually go with- 
out it. 

In this lies the real answer to the letter which 



I 



1 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 245 

we have quoted. So long as our men are brought 
up on a diet of pies and " saace," and pork and 
beans, so long will they hate stews and soups ; 
and, alas ! so long as they are convalescents in 
hospital, so long will they be looking about them 
for causes of discontent, of which the diet is the 
most obvious and the most fertile.* 

Hospital stewards have always had a bad 
name, partly because they have done something 
to deserve it ; but the devil is not so black as he 
is painted. Their position lays them open to 
many charges which are utterly unjust. They 
give to the Sanitary Commission an unconscious 
testimony that, in the main, they are honest, by 
the simple fact that the requisitions for the Com- 
mission stores vary with the condition and num- 
ber of patients. With two exceptions, during 
a period of some months, the demand for hospi- 
tal delicacies in the hospitals in the District of 
Columbia corresponded well with the number 
of very sick. Were the stewards in the habit, 
so often asserted, of using the good things of 
the Commission for their own benefit, it is rea- 
sonable to suppose that their greed for them 
would have been as strong at one time as at 
another. 

* The writer is not to be understood as denying the exist- 
ence of neglect of men in hospital. This statement is made 
to show that complaints of such neglect must be taken with 
great caution ; for they are frequently made unjustly by men 
who are in other respects worthy of belief. 



246 THE UNITED STATES 

In general hospitals, the hospital fund ought 
to leave but little for the Commission to do ; and 
this has been the case, for the last six months, in 
the hospitals in Washington. iV current supply 
of certain things is, however, always needed even 
here, and experience and judgment alone can 
know the measure of the economy which can 
be practised. As a general thing, the stores of 
the Commission are issued through the channel 
of the women-nurses ; but sometimes they go 
for issue into the hands of the surgeons in charge, 
most of whom, let who will say to the contrary, 
take a true and conscientious interest in the wel- 
fare of those under their care. 

And here a few words may be said on the 
work that might — we dare to say that should — 
belong to women in general hospitals. If wom- 
en comprehended their true work, and had the 
patience to show that they do so comprehend it, 
the deep prejudice against them, in the minds 
of the army surgeons, would be removed. In- 
deed, it has been removed in many instances. 
But women have not, as a general thing, seen 
their place or their duty. It is hard, perhaps, to 
do so. It is hard to realize that even benev- 
olence must be obedient. And it is for this rea- 
son that the Sisters of Mercy, so far, have been 
preferred as nurses by the surgeons of the Army. 
It could, however, be shown that the work of 
women belonging in the world would be more 
useful than even the work of the Sisters, if such 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 24=7 

women would learn their true place. And if 
they learned it, and if they kept to it, the result 
would be that in the end they would have all 
the power of benevolence that even they would 
ask. For here it may be said, in deep conviction 
of its truth, that the surgeons of the Army of 
all grades are, as a general thing, desirous of 
doing well by those under their charge ; — they 
are conscientious and faithful men. It is be- 
lieved, and is, perhaps, capable of proof, that if 
a lady, (by which is meant a gentlewoman hold- 
ing a certain social position,) and one fitted for 
the work, could be placed in charge of what may 
be called the Woman's Department in a hospi- 
tal, — namely, the nursing of the very sick men, 
the special diet and the linen department, with 
a body of nurses under her charge, — a ben- 
efit to the hospital would follow, and the sur- 
geons, far from complaining of it, would in the 
end welcome it with sincerity. If a system like 
this could obtain in Washington, — these ladies 
being in the service of the Government, yet allied 
to the Sanitary Commission, — a result would 
be reached which would remove all. ground of 
complaint so far as the sick men and the stores 
are concerned. As for the convalescents, we 
fear they must always be expected to grumble. 
And so, after all is said, there will be many 
who will continue to judge of the Sanitary Com- 
mission by what returning soldiers say of it; 
not reflecting that the well men of the Army 



248 THE UNITED STATES 

have hitherto known comparatively little of it. 
The receipt of a box of stale pound-cake or 
mouldy gingerbread, admirably adapted to fill 
the hospitals with sick men, occasions much 
livelier sentiments of grateful regard than whole 
car-loads of hospital stores. To be sure, all this 
is changing. Now, when you visit a regiment 
to get discharge-papers rectified, or call a circle 
round you to teach them how to benefit by the 
Commission as they go home furloughed or dis- 
charged, or to learn from them, for friends at 
home, the fate of some missing comrade, the 
question comes into their mind, " Who is it that 
cares enough for us to do this ? " But, as a 
general thing, the well men have known but 
little of the Commission, and even the sick man 
cannot always know from whose hand comes 
the pillow that bears his weary head, and the 
wine or food that revives him.* 

* Not long since, Mr. Knapp, then Special Relief Agent, 
met a man who was saying, " For his part, he had never re- 
ceived anything, and he had never seen anything from the 
Sanitary Conmiission." Mr. Knapp eyed him a moment, and 
then said, " Now, my man, come with me, and let me exam- 
ine the clothes you have on." As article after article came 
off, down to the socks, each was found to bear the printed 
stamp, " U. S. Sanitary Commission." The man did not 
mean to be untruthful, but — he could not read. 

The reader must not suppose, however, from what is 
here said (and said to one point only) that the men who 
have been succored are ungrateful. Far, very far from it. 
See Appendix L. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 249 

It seems scarcely necessary to attempt to show 
in words that the Sanitary Commission has pro- 
duced results which, in their several degrees, great 
and small, have served the soldier, the war, the 
country, and mankind. If the facts cannot show 
it, what words can do so? There is, however, 
one of its results, and that the most important, 
to which the story has made not the smallest 
allusion. 

When the war began, the requirements of law 
provided that the senior surgeon of the Army 
should be the Surgeon-General: an arrangement 
that was liable to result in placing at that post 
an officer whose chief qualification for its varied 
duties of large responsibility was a good consti- 
tution, carefully preserved. There was no bureau 
of medical inspection established by law, nor 
any legal requirement in this corps for its main- 
tenance. There was little incentive, aside from 
natural taste, considerations of pride, or con- 
scientious impulse, to professional improvement, 
or especially zealous devotion to duty. Promo- 
tion, being by seniority of service, could not foL 
low as a result of high qualification, nor, after 
the junior officer had passed his examination for 
a surgeoncy at the end of five years' service, 
was it retarded by incompetence or sloth. The 
tendencies of the system repressed the prompt- 
ings of professional ambition, and favored con- 
tentment in the dry path of old routine. 

It was no merit of the system that so many 



250 THE UNITED STATES 

medical officers rose above its debilitating influ- 
ences, and made for themselves and for their 
corps a reputation going far to justify, by scien- 
tific attainments as well as by manly and hon- 
orable bearing, the designation once applied to 
them by an officer of another staff, — " the corps 
d^ elite of the Army." The Commission felt that 
such a system was inadequate to the demands 
of the country, — that the highest talent and 
the most interested devotion should be given to 
the discharge of the multiform duties of the 
Medical Bm^eau. It urged its views upon the 
President, the Secretary of War, and upon Con- 
gress ; and brought to bear on legislators the 
organized sentiment of thoughtful men through- 
out the country. It met the objections of Pre- 
scription and Routine, and pointed out a more 
excellent way than ever their feet had trodden. 
By the inflmence of public opinion, — moulded 
and organized and directed by the Sanitary 
Commission, it is not too much to say, — Con- 
gress, in April, 1862, passed a bill, which, ap- 
proved by the President, became law on the 16th 
of that month, and which introduced new fea- 
tures of the greatest value into the organization 
of the Medical Bureau. 

Besides increasing the number of officers in 
the lower grades, it added an Assistant Surgeon- 
General and a Medical Inspector- General, with 
the rank of colonel respectively ; eight medical 
inspectors, ranking as lieutenant-colonels ; and 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 251 

provided that these officers — as well as the 
Surgeon- General, who ranks as a Brigadier-Gen- 
eral — should be hereafter selected for merit and 
eminent qualification from the whole number 
of medical officers in service, whether of the 
regular or volunteer army. 

A striking illustration of what was to be ex- 
pected from the new law was given nine days 
later, when the President commissioned Assist- 
ant-Surgeon William A. Hammond to be Sur- 
geon-General of the Army. It is well known 
that the Sanitary Commission urged this ap- 
pointment, but not on personal grounds ; for only 
one of its members had ever seen him when 
their decision was reached that this would be 
the best appointment possible. But they pre- 
sented his claims to the President and Cabinet, 
from his well-known devotion to science, his 
energy and executive ability, his comprehensive 
view of the great questions sure to arise in the 
administration of his office, and his evident 
readiness to meet boldly great responsibilities. 
His administration has justified the selection. 
He has introduced liberality and promptness 
into the purveying department of his bureau. 
He has greatly enlarged the supply table ; for 
old hotels and seminaries, he has substituted 
airy and ample hospital buildings, conformable 
to improved architectural models ; he has raised, 
by providing more rigid examinations, the scien- 
tific standard for admission into the army med- 



252 THE UNITED STATES 

ical service ; he has sought legislatioji to enlarge 
the hospital fund, to improve the system of 
nursing, to provide for more extended inspection 
of camps, barracks, hospitals, transports, and 
stores ; to establish a legalized and humane sys- 
tem of ambulance, and to render, by other en- 
actments, the corps more efficient and the system 
more complete. 

By these efforts, by the just exercise of disci- 
pline, by his encouragement to scientific inves- 
tigation, his fostering of army medical societies, 
his establishment of a museum of pathology, 
and his detail of accomplished members of the 
medical staff to write the medical and surgical 
history of the war, he has kindled afresh in the 
medical service a zeal and an esprit de corps 
which can hardly fail to insure an enthusiasm 
noble in its aims, and a scientific progress fer- 
tile in its results. It is barely eighteen months 
since the Medical Bureau was fully reorganized 
by the President, and since its corps of Medical 
Inspectors — the aids of its Chief in securing 
an exact knowledge of the field before him — 
was confirmed by the Senate. But the experi- 
ence of these months indicates the increasing 
gain likely to accrue to science from this meas- 
ure of reform. For, under such guidance, re- 
form is not likely to go backward. 

It is obvious, however, that the working of 
this law has borne painfully upon the feelings 
of individuals, and we trust that we may be 



SANITARY COaiMISSION. 253 

suffered to say, with great respect for the manly- 
virtues of such men, that perhaps no greater 
tribute of patriotism has been given to the coun- 
try than that of the spirit with which these offi- 
cers have seen younger men called into their 
places by the exigencies of active war. 



The Sanitary Commission is a great teacher : 
teaching many the true use of their faculties ; 
teaching others that they have faculties to use, 
and giving to all the education of opportunity. 
Truly it is " a liberal education " — guiding the 
national instincts ; showing the value of order, 
and the dignity of work ; opening the hearts of 
men and women in unselfish trust towards each 
other ; teaching the true principles of the true 
equality of human nature. But this book has 
ill-conveyed an essential truth if it has not 
shown that the life of the Commission sprang 
from the nation, and that it becomes a teacher 
because the instincts of the nation have risen 
up and demanded to be taught and moulded. 

The true strength and glory of a free people 
lies not in its politicians, orators, poets, and his- 
torians, but in the faithful instinct, courage, and 
intelligence of the unnamed and unnamable 
millions ; — showing a gradual lifting up, not 
of man as an individual, but of human nature 
in its likeness to God. From its hidden life this 
instinct has been roused by the war into a vis- 



254 THE UNITED STATES 

ible existence. Perhaps its purest voice is ut- 
tered through the Sanitary Commission, where 
Mercy and Patriotism speak and act together, 
and Self is not. The sound of this voice comes 
back like an echo to the nation, bearing the les- 
sons taught by the performance of good deeds. 
Thus the Commission becomes a teacher; thus 
it reaches, as perhaps nothing else can reach, into 
the hearts of the men and women of our coun- 
try. Nor does its work end here. It has within 
it the means for a national education of ideas 
as well as of instincts. This, however, is for 
time and not for prophecy to show. 

And here this sketch must close. Its main 
object has been to show certain facts, and not 
to appeal directly to the reader ; but it is sim- 
ply impossible to lay down the pen and not 
say, from the depths of a tried conviction — 
" Friends ! let us give to this Commission all 
that we have to give of talent and strength 
and money; for life will never give us such an 
opportunity again ! " 

This book may have shown — as it professed 
to do — that the Sanitary Commission has jus- 
tified the confidence of the people, but there 
are some things which it cannot show nor say. 
They are said elsewhere ; and with those words, 
deeply felt and valued by the Sanitary Com- 
mission, this little book shall end: — 

" If pure benevolence was ever organized and 
utilized into beneficence, the name of the insti- 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 255 

tution is the Sanitary Commission. It is a 
standing answer to Samson's riddle : ' Out of 
the strong came forth sweetness.' Out of the 
very depths of the agony of this cruel and bloody 
war springs this beautiful system, built of the no- 
blest and divinest attributes of the human soul. 
Amidst all the heroism of daring and enduring 
w^hich this war has developed, — amidst all the 
magnanimity of which it has shown the race 
capable, the daring, the endurance, the greatness 
of soul which have been discovered among the 
men and women who have given their lives to 
this work, shine as brightly as any on the battle- 
field — in some respects even more brightly. 
They have not the bray of trumpets nor the 
clash of swords to rouse enthusiasm, nor will 
the land ever resound with their victories. 
Theirs is the dark and painful side, — the menial 
and hidden side ; but it is made light and lovely 
by the spirit that shines in and through it all. 
Glimpses of this agency are familiar to our 
people ; but not till the history of its inception, 
progress, and results is calmly and adequately 
written out and spread before the public, will 
any idea be formed of the magnitude and im- 
portance of the work which it has done. Nor 
even then. Never, till every soldier whose last 
moments it has soothed, till every soldier whose 
flickering life it has gently steadied into contin- 
uance, whose waning reason it has softly lulled 
into quiet, whose chilled blood it has warmed 



256 THE UNITED STATES 

into healthful play, whose failing frame it has 
nourished into strength, whose fainting heart it 
has comforted with sympathy, — never, until 
every full soul has poured out its story of gratitude 
and thanksgiving, will the record be complete ; 
but long before that time, ever since the moment 
that its helping hand was first held forth, comes 
the Blessed Voice, ' Inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me.' 

"An institution asking of Government only 
permission to live and opportunity to work, 
planting itself firmly and squarely on the gen- 
erosity of the people, subsisting solely by their 
free-will offerings, it is a noble monument of the 
intelligence, the munificence, and the efficiency 
of a free people, and of the alacrity with which it 
responds when the right chord is rightly touched. 

" The blessings of thousands who were ready 
to perish, and of tens of thousands who love 
their country and their kind, rest upon those 
who originated, and those who sustain, this 
noble work. Let the people's heart never faint 
and its hand never weary ; but let it, of its abun- 
dance, give to this Commission full measure, 
pressed down, shaken together, and running 
over, that, wherever the red trail of war is seen, 
its divine footsteps may follow ; that, wherever 
the red hand of war is lifted to wound, its white 
hand may be lifted to heal ; that its work may 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 257 

never cease until it is assumed by a great Chris- 
tian government, or until peace once more 
reigns throughout the land. And even then, 
gratitude for its service, and joy in its glory, 
shall never die out of the hearts of the Ameri- 
can people." 



17 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A. 

At the last session of the United States Sanitary 
Commission, Oct. 9, 1863, the following action was 
taken on the resignation of Mr. Olmsted : — 

The President communicated the previously an- 
nounced resignation of Mr. Olmsted as General Secre- 
tary and as a member of the Commission, and offered 
resolutions expressive of the feeling of the Commission, 
viz: — 

Resolved, That this Board accepts the resignation of 
Fred. Law Olmsted, as General Secretary, with pro- 
found regret. 

Resolved, That, from the beginning of our enterprise, 
the organizing genius of Mr. Olmsted, trained by rich 
experience in other large and successful undertakings, 
has been a chief source of whatever merit has charac- 
terized the operations of the Sanitary Commission ; and 
that we find our consolation in the loss of his personal 
services in the fact that his plans and ideas are so inef- 
faceably stamped on our work, that we shall continue to 
enjoy the benefit of his talents and the inspiration of 
his character as long as the Commission lasts. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be transmitted to 
Mr. Olmsted, with a letter expressive of our warm 



260 APPENDIX A. 

personal attachment, and an earnest expression of our 
wish that he will withdraw his resignation as a member 
of the Board. 

The resolutions were adopted, and the President was 
requested to prepare the letter referred to. 

( Copied from the Minutes of the fourteenth Session United States 
Sanitary Commission. ) 

The officers of the United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion are now as follows : — 

H. W. Bellows, D. D President. 

A. D. Bache, LL. D Vice-President. 

Geokge T. Strong, Esq Treasurer. 

J. Foster Jenkins, M. D.. .General Secretary. 

J. S. Newberry, M. D Associate Sec'y for Dep't of the West. 

F. N. Knapp " " " " " East. 

J. H. Douglas Asso. Sec'y, and Chief of Inspection.' 

A. J. Bloor Assistant Secretary. 

E. T. Thokne " " 

E. B. Elliot Actuary. 

John Bowne Accountant, and Superintendent Hos- 
pital Directory. 



STAFF OF INSPECTION. 

Dr. H. G. Clark Special Inspection of Hospitals. 

Dr. L. H. Steiner Inspector Army of the Potomac. 

Dr. Gordon Winslow " at Gettysburg. 

Dr. George L. Andrew. ... " Louisville. 

Dr. A. N. Reed " Army of the Cumberland. 

Dr. George A. Blake " Department of the Gulf. 

Dr. H. A. Warriner " Army of the Tennessee. 

Dr. E. A. Crane " Department of the South. 

Dr. J. W. Page " Department of N. Carolina. 

Dr. A. L. Castleman " Arm}- of the Cumberland. 

Dr. FiTHiAN " Army of the Tennessee. 

Dr. C. W. Brink " at Washington. 

Dr. T. B. Smith *' and Pension Examiner. 

Dr. J. S. Nichols " on detached duty. 



APPENDIX B. 261 

Dr. Alex. McDonald Inspector Army of the Potomac. 

Dr. Wm. F. Swalm " " " " 

Dr. M. M. Marsh " " in South Carolina 

In addition to the above, the roster of the Commis- 
sion shows that there are now — 

Clerks, in all Departments 44 | Surgeons 2 

Relief Agents 25 Hospital Visitors and Can- i 

Storekeepers 21 | vassing Agents 6i 

Superintendents of Homes 10 Porters, Watchmen, &c 12' 

Matrons 6 Cooks, Laundresses, Ser- 

Nurses 5 vants, &c 27 

4 I Wagon-drivers , 7 



APPENDIX B. 

CIRCULAR LETTER. 

To the Presidents and Officers of the various Life 
Insurance Companies of the United States. 

Gentlemen : — You are directly and largely inter- 
ested in the lives of our brave soldiers, so many of 
whom are insured in your several offices. Their prin- 
cipal danger comes, as you are well aware, not from 
the force of the enemy, but from the ravages of those 
diseases always active in camps and fortresses, and 
especially so among inexperienced volunteer troops 
suddenly subjected to change of climate, to unusual 
heat, and to great exposure. The officers in charge of 
the principal portion of these lives are brave, intelh'gent 
men, ready to shed their blood for the liberties of the 
country ; but they are without experience in the care 
of their soldiers, and, with the best intentions, must fail, 
if not supported by extraneous effi)rts and experience, 



262 APPENDIX B. 

in saving them from pestilence and destruction in a 
ratio too fearful to name. In view of the enormous 
responsibility thrown by extraordinary events upon the 
Medical Bureau, and at the urgent instance of medical 
men at large, a Sanitary Commission has been ap- 
pointed by the Government of the United States, to 
advise the War Department and the Medical Bureau 
of the most efficient way of preventing disease among 
the troops, and w^arding off general pestilence and rapid 
decimation, and to cooperate with them in their efforts 
to this end. Reasonable fears exist, that, unless the 
most energetic efforts are made, one half our whole 
volunteer force may not survive the exposures of the 
next four months. This Commission is now in full 
organization, and ready to go to work. It wants 
money. It needs twenty thousand dollars in hand to 
proceed with vigor to its sublimely important work. It 
has declined asking or receiving money from the Gov- 
ernment, for fear it might thus forfeit its independent 
position, and lose in moral strength what it gained by 
government patronage. If the Go.yernment supported 
it, its members would be appointed by the Government, 
and acquire a political character, or be chosen not for 
their competency to the work, but from local and par- 
tisan reasons. We choose, then, to depend as long and 
as far as we can on the support of the public. And we 
look to the Life Insurance Companies, whose intelligent 
acquaintance with vital statistics constitutes them the 
proper and the readiest judges of the necessity of such 
a Commission, to give the first indorsement to our 
enterprise by generous donations, — the best proof they 
can afford the public of the solid claim we have on the 
liberality of the rich, the patriotic, and the humane. 



APPENDIX B. 263 

We beg to remind you, moreover, that even those Life 
Insurance Companies which have no war risks outstand- 
ing are directly and deeply interested in promoting the 
objects of this Commission. For no fact in medical 
history is better established than this, that diseases 
breaking out among soldiers in camp or garrison, for 
the want of prudent sanitary measures, and extending 
among them on any considerable scale, are soon shared 
by the community at large. The mere presence in any 
country of an army extensively infected, is a centre of 
poison to its whole people. If pestilence do not break 
out (as it commonly does), ordinary maladies assume a 
malignant and unmanageable type, and the general 
ratio of mortality is heightened in a fearful degree. 

Our case is urgent, and every hour's delay is a 
serious blow to our success. We ask for prompt, nay, 
for immediate action. We wish to send skilled agents 
to every point of danger, — men armed with the influence 
and authority of the Sanitary Commission, — to put all 
general officers and all medical men, the captains and 
all other responsible persons, whether in camps or for- 
tresses, upon their guard ; to arouse an unusual atten- 
tion to the subject of good cooking, regular meals, 
absolute cleanhness, proper ventilation, and the use of 
prophylactics. An examination of the papers accom- 
panying this appeal will show you the ampleness of our 
powers, and the vigor and completeness of our machin- 
ery. We can do a vast work in a short time, if we 
have abundant means. Fifty thousand dollars would, 
we seriously think, enable us to save fifty thousand 
lives. Can there be any hesitation in furnishing such 
a sum for such a vast and holy purpose ? And ought 
not, must not, your Life Insurance Companies lead 



264 APPENDIX B. 

boldly and generously in this imperative duty ? We 
are willing to give our time, our thoughts, our energies, 
and whatever of skill, experience, and knowledge we 
may possess, to this work ; but we look to you and to 
the wealth of our cities to supply us with the money 
required to effect the beneficent objects proposed by the 
Sanitary Commission. 

Very respectfully and fraternally yours, 

Henry W. Bellows, President. 

Alex. D. Bache. 

Wm. H. Van Buren, M. D. 

WOLCOTT GiBBS, M. D. 

C. R. Agnew, M. D. 

John S. Newberry, M. D. (Cleveland.) 

Fred. Law Olmsted. 

Geo. T. Strong, Treasurer. 

Elisha Harris, M. D., Cor. Sec'y. 

Sanitary Commission, 

(In Session in New York,) 

June 21, 1861. 



CIRCULAR ASKING CONTRIBUTIONS. 

Sanitary Commission, Washington, D. C, 

Treasury Building, June 22, 1861. 

Sir : — The Sanitary Commission just ordered by 
the United States Government has a field of labor 
open to it of vast importance and immense urgency. 
The lives of 250,000 troops, four times more endan- 
gered from disease than from the casualties of war, are 
now hanging in the scales ; and whether fifty per cent, 
of them are carried off by dysentery, fever, and cholera, 
in the course of the next four months, or whether they 



APPENDIX B. 265 

are inamtained at what, under the best condition, is the 
double risk of life, depends, under God, upon the most 
efficient application of sanitary science to their protec- 
tion. In the sudden and enormous responsibility thrown 
upon the Government, the usual medical dependence is so 
strained that extraordinary means are necessary to meet 
the case. Under these circumstances, our Commission, 
with special power and duties, has been brought into 
existence. To avoid political jealousies, and secure a 
board of harmonious and high-toned advisers, it has 
been thought desirable to derive the support of the 
Commission from the public, rather than the Govern- 
ment. The Commissioners freely give their time, 
experience, and labor to the country. But they must 
keep active agents at numerous points constantly and 
vigilantly at work, in urging the preventive measures 
on which they depend for success ; and this involves a 
large expenditure of money. It is supposed that fifty 
thousand dollars could be expended with the greatest 
advantage during the present year in the work of the 
Commission, and that every single dollar so spent would 
save one life. Every dollar less than this placed at the 
disposal of the Commission must be considered as the 
needless exposure and probable loss of a life ! It is 
hoped that the character and standing of the Com- 
missioners is the only warrant the public will require 
for their energetic and faithful performance of the 
duties assigned them. Under these circumstances, the 
undersigned, members of the Sanitary Commission now 
in session in New York, ask the immediate contribu- 
tions of the men of wealth in as generous a measure as 
the greatness of the interest at stake and the urgency 
of the case may prompt their humane hearts and fore- 
looking minds. 



266 APPENDIX C. 

It is hardly necessary to suggest that every soldier 
who survives the exposure of the next four months will 
be worth, for military purposes, two fresh recruits ; 
that every man lost by neglect makes a complaining 
family, and forms a ground of unpopularity for the 
war ; that every sick man deprives the ranks of one or 
two well men detailed to take care of him ; that pesti- 
lence will demoralize and frighten those whom armed 
enemies cannot scare ; that the men now in the field 
are the flower of the nation ; that their places cannot 
be filled, either at home or in the ranks ; and that the 
economical, the humane, the patriotic, the successful 
conduct of this war, and its speedy termination, is now 
more dependent on the health of the troops than any 
and all other conditions combined. 

Help us, then, dear sir, to do this work, for which our 
machinery is now complete ! Help us generously ; help 
us at once ! 

In the name of God, humanity, and our country ! 
Yours, fraternally, 

Henry W. Bellows, D. D. 
A. D. Bache, LL. D. 
Elisha Harris, M. D. 



APPENDIX C. 

A SERIES OF SURGICAL AND MEDICAL MONOGRAPHS, 
PREPARED AND PRINTED BY THE UNITED STATES 
SANITARY COMMISSION. 

Introductory Essay. Valentine Mott, D. D. 
Advice as to Camping. Issued by the British Govern- 
ment Sanitary Commission. 



APPENDIX C. 267 

A. Report on Military Hygiene and Therapeutics. 

B. Directions to Army Surgeons on the Battle-field. 

By G. J. Guthrie, Surgeon- General to the Brit- 
ish Forces during the Crimean War (reprinted 
by United States Sanitary Commission). 

C. Rules for presei-ving the Health of the Soldier. 

D. Quinine as a Prophylactic against Malarious Dis- 

eases. 

E. Report on the Value of Vaccination in Armies. 

F. Report on Amputations. 

G. Report on Amputations through the Foot and at 

the Ankle-joint. 
H. Report on Venereal Diseases. 
J. Report on Pneumonia. 
K. Report on Continued Fevers. 
L. Report on Excision of Joints for traumatic 

Cause. 
M. Report on Dysentery. 
N. Report on Scurvy. 
O. Report on the Treatment of Fractures in Military 

Surgery. 
P. Report on the Nature and Treatment of Miasmatic 

Fevers. 
Q. Report on the Nature and Treatment of Yellow 

Fever. 



APPENDIX D. 



APPENDIX D. 

UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. 

List of the Sj)ecial Inspectors of the General Hospitals of the Army, 
Sept. 1, 1862, to May 1, 1863. 

Henry G. Clark, M. D., Surgeon Massachusetts General Hospital, 

&c., Inspector-in-cbief. 

Abbott, S. L., M. D., Mass. Gen. Hospital Boston. 

Armor, S. G., M. D., Prof. University, Mich Ann Arbor. 

Ayer, James, M. D Boston. 

Bell, John, M. D Philadelphia. 

Bell, Theod. S., M. D., Prof. Theor. and Pract. 

Univ Louisville. 

Bemis, Charles V., M. D Medford, Mass. 

Borland, J. N., M. D , Boston. 

Bowditch, H. I., M. D., Phys. Mass. Gen. Hosp.. .Boston. 

Brinsmade, T. C, M. D Troy, N. Y. 

Buck, Gurdon, M. D., Surgeon N. Y. Hosp New York. 

Buckingham, C. E., M. D., Consulting Physician 

City of Boston Boston. 

Cabot, S., Jr., M. D., Surg. Mass. Gen. Hosp Boston. 

Coale, W. E., M. D Boston. 

Cogswell, M. F., M. D Albany. 

Comegys, C G., M. D Cincinnati. 

Draper, John W., M. D., Prof. Chem. Univ. N. Y. .New York. 
Ellis, Calvin, M. D., Pathol., &c., Mass. Gen. 

Hospital Boston. 

Flint, Joshua B., M. D., Prof. Clinical Surgery, 

Univ Louisville. 

Foster, S. Conant, M. D New York. 

Fowler, Edmond, M. D Montgomeiy, Ala. 

Gay, George H., M. D., Surg. Mass. Gen. Hosp.. .Boston. 

Gould, A. A., M. D., Phys. Mass. Gen. Hosp Boston. 

Gunn, Moses, M. D., Prof. Surgery, Univ., Mich.. Detroit. 

Hodges, R. M., M. D., Surg. Mass. Gen. Hosp Boston. 

Homans, John, M. D., Ex-Pres. Mass. Med. Soc. .Boston. 

Hun, Thomas, M. D Albany. 

Hunt, William, M. D Philadelphia. 

Jackson, J. B. S., M. D., Prof. Morb. Anat. Mass. 

Med. Coll., &c Boston. 



APPENDIX D. 269 

Jacob?, A., M. D., Prof. Infant. Path., &c., Med. 

Coll New York. 

Jarvis, Edward, M. D., Member of American Sta- 
tistical Society Boston. 

Johnson, H. A., M. D., Prof. Physiol, and Histol. 

Univ. Lind Chicago. 

Judkins, David, M. D Cincinnati. 

Krackowizer, E., M. D New York. 

Lee, Charles A., M. D., Prof. Mat. Med. Med. Sch. 

of Maine Peekskill. 

Leonard, F. B., M. D Lansingberg. 

Lewis, Winslow, M. D., Consult. Surg. Mass. Gen. 

Hospital Boston. 

March, Alden, M. D., Prof. Surgery Med. Coll.. . .Albany. 

Mendenhall, G., M. D Cincinnati. 

Minot, Francis, M. D., Phys. Mass. Gen. Hosp. . .Boston. 

Mitchell, S. Weir, M. D Philadelphia. 

Morehouse, G. R., M. D Philadelphia. 

Morland, William W., M. D Boston. 

Pitcher, Z., M. D., Emer. Prof. Univ. Mich Detroit. 

Pollak, S., M. D., Surg. Eye and Ear Infirmary. .St. Louis. 
Post, Alfred C, M. D., Prof. Surg. Univ. N. Y., 

&c., &c New York. 

Reid, David B.,* M. D St. Paul's. 

Rochester, T. F., M.D., Prof. Clin. Med. Univ. of. .Buffalo. 

Sager, Abram, M. D., Prof. Obst. Univ. Mich Ann Arbor. 

Shaw, Benjamin S., M. D., Supt. Mass. Gen. 

Hosp Boston. 

Shattuck, G. C, M. D., Prof. Theor. and Pract. 

Med. Coll., &c Boston. 

Slade, Daniel D., M. D Boston. 

Smith, Stephen, M. D., Prof. Surg, and Surg. 

Bellevue Hosp New York. 

Snow, Edwin M., M. D., Health Officer, &c Providence, R. I. 

* David Boswell Reid, M. D., Fellow Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh; Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. London; Member 
Medico-Chirurgical Society of St. Petersburg; formerly Director of 
Ventilation at the Houses of Parliament of Great Britain; late Pro- 
fessor of Physiology and Hygiene at the Universit}' of Wisconsin. 
He died in the service of the United States Sanitary Commission, 
being at the time of his death Special Inspector of Ventilation in 
Hospitals. 



270 • APPENDIX D. 

Terry, Charles A., M. D Cleveland 

Vanderpool, S. 0., M. D., late Surg. Gen. K. Y.. .Albany. 
Walker, Clement A., M. D., Sapt. Lunatic Hosp.. Boston. 
Ware, Charles E., M. D., Phys. Mass. Gen. Hosp.. Boston. 
White, James P., M. D., Prof. Obst. Univ. of . . . .Buffalo. 

Williams, H. W., M. D Boston. 

Wyman, Morrill, M. D., Ex-Prof. Mass. Medical 

Coll Cambridge. 

These gentlemen, distinguished in their profession, 
with the care of large practices, or other responsibilities 
upon them, accepted the duties of Special Inspectors of 
the Sanitary Commission, solely from motives of patriot- 
ism and humanity. Their remuneration was very 
slight. It merely paid the travelling expenses of many 
of them. Others, who travelled lesser distances, gave 
what was due to them to the special relief agency of the 
Commission. 

The reports of these gentlemen are contained in over 
four thousand folio pages of writing. They have been 
tabulated under the supervision of Dr. Clark himself. 
They contain answers to a series of questions, in addi- 
tion to the professional and scientific observations of the 
Inspectors themselves. Thus it may be said that they 
give the most thorough and pertinent knowledge which 
can be had about the general hospitals of the United 
States. Those who are disposed to doubt the condition 
of these hospitals would do well to examine these re- 
ports, and assure themselves that, in a great degree, 
their doubts and fears are unfounded. 

We must here mention, what should have been 
stated elsewhere, that the first plan for a barrack hos- 
pital in this country (the most important improvement 
which has taken place in general hospitals) was made 
and given to the Government by the Sanitary Commis- 



APPENDIX E. 271 

sion. The Judiciary Square Hospital, in Washington, 
was built upon that plan ; and every general hospital 
since erected has been of barrack structure. 



APPENDIX E. 

UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. 

WomarCs Central Association of Relief, Third Avenue, 
10 Cooper Union. 

New Yoke, Jan. 13th, 1863. 

Madam, — A council was held in Washington, at 
the rooms of the United States Sanitary Commission, 
on the 22d and 24th of last November. It was com- 
posed of delegates from the different branches of the 
Commission, — Chicago, and Louisville, Ky., being rep- 
resented, as well as Boston and New York. 

The following conclusions were arrived at : — 

1st. There are 130,000 sick and wounded soldiers 
now scattered among our hospitals and camps. 

2d. Our Government is most liberal and humane in 
its care of^ these suffering soldiers, and the Surgeon- 
General of the Medical Department zealous and efficient 
in the performance of his duties. 

3d. The historical experience of all nations in time 
of war (as well as our own) shows that, notwithstanding 
the utmost liberality of governmental provision, there 
is a large amount of suffering which must be alleviated, 
if at all, by the volunteer aid of the people. 

4th. After an experience of eighteen months, it is 
acknowledged, by the officers of the Army of the United 



272 APPENDIX E. 

States, that the best and safest channel (because the 
only one authorized by Government) through which the 
gifts from the people to the soldiers can pass is the 
United States Sanitary Commission. The Commission 
works in perfect harmony with the Government. 

5th. The Commission collects supplies from all the 
loyal States, and distributes them to the soldiers of the 
United States, without distinction of State or regiment, 
giving first to those who need it most, and luherever the 
need is the greatest. This is the federal principle, upon 
which all the operations of the Commission are based. 

6th. Out of 25,000 boxes sent to the Commission, 
but one has been lost. There are at least 25,000 boxes 
of hospital supplies, directed to individuals in regiments, 
noW' in the storehouses of express companies in Wash- 
ington, w^ho are unable to deliver them because the 
owners cannot be found. 

7th. Supplies, even when received by regiments, can- 
not be used by the very sick or seriously wounded men 
of that regiment. These men are transferred to gen- 
eral hospitals, where they are no longer under the care 
of the regimental surgeon. 

8th. Although our Army and Navy is now larger than 
ever, with a corresponding increase of sickness, the 
amount of supplies now received by the Commission is 
ten times less than the receipts of a year ago. 

9th. In view of this fact, a more thorough organiza- 
tion of the whole country should be attempted, and 
soldiers' aid societies, tributary to the Commission, 
established in every city, town, and village throughout 
the loyal States. If possible, the contributions should 
be made regularly, that the Commission may know what 
supplies it may depend upon. 



APPENDIX E. 273 

10th. There is at present no reserve stock of supplies 
in the storehouses of the Commission, either at Boston, 
New York, Philadelphia, or Washington, with the 
exception of lint, bandages, old linen, old cotton, and 
pillow-cases. The most imperative need is for flannel 
shirts, flannel drawers, socks, slippers, bedsacks, quilts, 
and blankets. 

And, lastly, we acknowledge that the magnitude and 
importance of this work have only lately burst fully 
upon us, with the heavy responsibility attached to it. 
We hope that every loyal woman in the country will 
feel this responsibility with us, and look upon this work 
as a sacred duty. It requires sacrifice ; it requires time 
and money, and earnest, steady, relentless w'ork, which 
is to last as long as the war lasts. Let us think of it 
as a privilege as well as a duty, with a deep conviction 
of the high principles which govern it, — humanity, 
patriotism, Christianity. 

We are desirous of making every explanation in 
regard to the above statements which may be desired. 

As Secretary of the Soldiers' Aid Society of your 
town or village, an auxiliary of the Woman's Central 
Association of Relief, branch of the Sanitary Commis- 
sion, will you be kind enough to answer the following 
questions, which I ask with the view of obtaining such 
information as will lead to the furtherance of our com- 
mon object, — the care of our sick and wounded soldiers 
and sailors : — 

1st. What is the state of feeling which exists in 
your community in regard to the Commission ? 

2d. Is the broad, federal principle upon which it is 
based thoroughly understood by the people, and do they 
agree that it is the right one ? 
18 



274 APPENDIX E. 

3d. "What reports, if any, prejudicial to the Commis- 
sion are in circulation in your neighborhood ? And 
what difficulties have you to contend with ? 

4th. When was your Society organized, and how 
often does it meet ? Please send me the name of your 
society, and the names of its president and secretary. 
Is it the only one in your toAvn or village ? 

5th. What circulars, issued by the Commission, have 
lately been received by you ? Is this printed matter 
read aloud at the meetings, and is it received with any 
interest ? 

6th. Have all supplies sent from you to us been 
acknowledged ? If not, please send a list, made out in 
detail, of the contents of each box missing, with the date 
of forwarding. We have received many unknown boxes, 
which we would gladly acknowledge. 

7th. To which branch of the Commission is it most 
economical for you to send supplies, and what facilities 
have you in regard to transportation ? 

I shall be much indebted if you will send me a 
friendly letter, in answer to the above questions, within 
ten days after the receipt of this, if possible. Any 
suggestions from you, by which the work can be made 
more effective, will be most gladly received by me. 
Louisa Lee Schuyler, 

10 Cooper Union, 

Miss Ellen Collins, New York. 

Mrs. T. d'Oremieulx, 

Miss Gertrude Stevens, 

Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler, 

Mr. S. W. Bridgham, 

W. H. Draper, M. D., , 

Committee on Correspondence and Supplies. 



APPENDIX E. 275 

I propose to answer the questions contained in this 
circular separately, each answer being based upon re- 
turns DQade in two hundred and thirty-five letters ; these 
letters representing the feeling of the people throughout 
New York State, Connecticut, the western parts of 
Massachusetts and Vermont, and the northern part of 
New Jersey. 

Answer 1st. The state of feeling which exists in 
regard to the Commission is favorable ; more so at the 
present time than ever before. The degree of favor is 
in direct proportion to the efforts which have been made 
to enlighten and instruct those who are interested in the 
care of the soldier, as to the principles and workings of 
the Commission. 

Answer ^d. The federal principle upon which the 
Commission is based is more thoroughly understood and 
appreciated throughout the State of New York, and in 
Massachusetts and Vermont, than in Connecticut and 
New Jersey. 

Answer 8d. The Commission has lived down most of 
the prejudicial reports in circulation concerning it. It 
is still accused of dishonesty, and all other crimes, by 
those whose only motive is to undermine the confidence 
of the people in anything which tends to strengthen our 
national cause. There are always returned soldiers 
bringing with them stories of dishonest surgeons and 
nurses, some of which must necessarily be true in so 
large an army as ours. We never deny these reports, 
but the proofs (names and dates) are asked for, with a 
promise of investigation, and the punishment of all 
convicted delinquents. We have not, as yet, been able 
to trace back any of these reports to anything tangible. 
The man in Troy, who was so willing and anxious to 



276 APPENDIX E. 

swear that he had bought sanitary stores from one of 
our agents, disappeared the day before the oath was to 
be administered. In almost every village there is the 
story of a returned soldier who spent his last dollar for 
a pot of jelly, and then finds his mother's name on the 
wrapper. But where is the soldier, and what was his 
mother's name ? A lady goes to Willard's and finds in 
her room sheets marked with her own name and the 
stamp of the Commission. But who is the lady ? and 
where are the sheets ? One more story, the scene of 
which is also laid in Washington. A sick and dis- 
charged soldier, too weak to go on his homeward jour- 
ney without a few days of rest, while lying on a 
comfortable bed, was seen to shake his head, rub his 
eyes, and gaze intently at the handsome quilt spread 
over him. Suddenly he fell back, exclaiming, with deep 
emotion, " It is — yes, it is my wife's best spare-room 
quilt." We do not give his name ; the place was the 
" Home for Sick Soldiers passing through Washington," 
established by the Sanitary Commission. 

The chief difficulty our auxiliaries have to contend 
with is the want of funds. The households have been 
gleaned of all superfluous linen and cotton, and the 
price of new materials is double and treble the usual 
rates. By offering to pay the freight-charges at this 
end of the line, it would throw the moneyed burden 
upon this city, and thus enable the little towns and vil- 
lages to put all their funds into materials. This would 
relieve them very much, and would increase our own 
receipts. 

(Answer 4th is omitted as unimportant here.) 
Answer 5th. In the country, the printed matter issued 
by the Commission is received with the greatest interest. 



APPENDIX E. 277 

It is read aloud at the meetings, passed from house to 
house, and extracts from the circulars and reports are 
very generally read from the pulpit. Every day letters 
come to us asking for more. 

(Answer 6th omitted as unimportant here.) 
Answer 1th. The facilities in regard to transporta- 
tion vary. Some speak of boats and raih'oads passing 
their doors, and so down to a letter from Delaware 
County, N. Y., which says : " It is most convenient to 
send to New York. We cart our supplies fifty miles 
to the Hudson River, and then forward by boat or rail- 
road." In several instances, they are carted fifteen, 
twenty, and thirty miles. But comparatively little 
freight has been carried without charge, and these trans- 
portation bills are enormous. The Long Island, Ja- 
maica, and Haerlem Railroads are the only ones which 
have consented to carry packages for the Commission 
free of charge, though all our railroad companies have 
been applied to. Similar applications have been granted 
by all the New-England railroads centring in Boston ; 
and the Western railroads carry the supplies of the 
Commission entirely free, or at very reduced rates. 

This whole correspondence is most interesting. Some 
of the letters are from fourteen to sixteen pages in 
length, — friendly, sympathetic, and encouraging letters, 
some of them even confidential, and all so full of inter- 
est in our work, and regrets that they are unable to do 
more for it. It is the farmers and villagers who are 
making the real sacrifices for the war. They work 
early and late for the soldiers, before and after the day's 
work is done ; they walk and drive for miles, through 
snow and mud, to the weekly sewing-circle ; they go 



278 APPENDIX E. 

from house to house, begging money and material- ; 
they deny themselves. " I, and a few friends, have 
determined not to buy any more new material for our 
own clothes, now that the prices are so high, and the 
hospital supplies are so much needed," writes one of 
these women ; " we cannot afford any longer to give 
both to ourselves and to the soldiers." 
, The work is no lono;er beinof carried on from motives 
of humanity, as it was at first ; it has become a test of 
-patriotism. Those who are the truest patriots, the real 
lovers of the Union, are the earnest, steadfast workers. 
It is the " grumblers," the " Peace Democrats," the " Se- 
cessionists," and the " Copperheads," they tell us, who 
will not understand it, who discourage it in every way. 

Plan of Organization. — The original plan of organ- 
ization of the Commission for the seaboard States was 
the establishment of three branches, or distributing de- 
pots, at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Each 
of these branches was to collect supplies from that part 
of the country which would naturally seek it as its 
nearest or most convenient depot. The large cities and 
towns in these fields were to be " centres of collection," 
gathering supplies from their vicinities, and forwarding 
them to the distributing depots. The branches were to 
organize and canvass their respective fields as they 
thought best. 

At the council held in Washington, last November, 
the plan of organization of the Boston Brancli was 
thought superior to all others, and we have consequently 
adopted it. This is the division of the country into 
sections, these sections being determined, not by county 
lines (although these arc often most convenient), but by 



APPENDIX E. 279 

lines of transportation, rivers, and railroads. One or 
more associate managers are appointed to each section. 

The duties of an associate manager are, — 

1st. To ascertain whether soldiers' aid societies 
exist in every town and village of her section ; and, if 
so, for what they are working. 

2d. When they are not working for the Commission, 
to use all her influence to induce them to do so, meeting 
all objections by bringing forward, in a kindly spirit, the 
convincing proofs furnished by the published documents 
of the Commission, and the testimony of the officers of 
the Army of the United States. 

3d. When such societies, tributary to the Commis- 
sion, do not exist, we wish to have them organized by 
our associate ; or, if preferred, she may send us the 
name of the right person, in the particular town or vil- 
lage, to whom we should address ourselves. 

4th. To visit all the auxiliary societies in her section, 
from time to time, for the purpose of giving information, 
answering questions, dispelling doubts, and encouraging 
workers, — this personal intercourse being thought very 
desirable. This, however, would be at the option of our 
associate, who can judge better than we can how best to 
produce the desired result in her own section. 

5th. To keep the broad federal principle, upon which 
the Commission is based, ever before the people. Our 
whole experience shows that our people are truly liberal 
in spirit, and only ask for information as to the best way 
of working for the sick and wounded. Where, during 
the past year, whole communities have worked for 
special regiments, it was only necessary to explain the 
national principle upon which the Sanitary Commission 
rests, and it was immediately adopted. 



280 APPENDIX E. 

6th. To bring every influence to bear which may 
stimulate this work, the responsibility of which we feel 
so deeply, and which may tend to make it more thorough 
and efficient. It should always be presented on the 
high grounds of duty, patriotism, and Christianity. 

7th. To keep herself thoroughly informed of the 
working of the Commission, by frequent correspond- 
ence with this office. When questions are asked us 
which we cannot answer, we write to the General Sec- 
retary at Washington for information, or refer our 
Associate directly to him. 

8th. To send us a friendly letter once a month, with 
a report of the condition of things in her section, point- 
ing out any errors on our part, and making any sugges- 
tions which may help us to make our work more 
effective, and which will be gladly received. 

In addition to this, several gentlemen have been lect- 
uring for us in behalf of the Commission, at intervals 
during the last three months. Mr. Furness has been 
speaking in the towns and villages upon the Hudson 
River, and has lately returned from a most successful 
tour along the line of the New York Central Railroad 
and the centre of this State. The Rev. Mr. Hadley 
has been canvassing the line of the Haerlem Railroad, 
and is now in Saratoga and Washington counties. The 
Rev. Herbert Lancey is now in the western part of 
this State, and Chaplain Phillips has been speaking in 
the Presbyterian churches of this city. The Rev. 
Mr. Tiffany is doing most excellent service in Con- 
necticut. He, and Mr. Hadley, and Mr. Lancey, are 
the only lecturers at present assigned to this branch by 
the central office in Washington. The result of these 
efforts, so far as we can judge, has been most bene- 
ficial. 



\ 



APPENDIX E. 281 

I will give but one interesting incident irom the 
reports of these gentlemen. Mr. Furness had just 
been addressing an audience in Rochester, N. Y., and 
writes : " While I was talking, a man came in and took 
his seat, hstening very attentively. After I had finished, 
he rose and proceeded to tell how the lives of sixteen 
Rochester boys were saved by the Sanitary Commission ; 
and so earnest did he become, that at last his voice 
trembled, his eyes filled, and he fairly sobbed out, — 
*And I pray God every day to bless every man con- 
nected with that noble institution.' Coming, as this did, 
without any possible collusion, and from the man who, 
as well as I could learn, had been deputed by the city 
of Rochester to look after the soldiers, it went home 
with thrilling effect." 

In another month we shall have closed the second 
year of our work ; and we may feel gratified at the 
proofs which are now daily received of the way in 
which the Sanitary Commission has grown into the 
confidence of our people and our Army. "We are still, 
however, too dependent upon the sympathy of our 
friends not to appreciate and feel grateful for a com- 
pliment lately received from one of our correspondents, 
who was " so glad to find we were not a soulless cor- 
poration ! " 

Respectfully submitted, 

Louisa Lee Schuyler, 

Mem, Executive Com, 



282 APPENDIX F. 



APPENDIX F. 

The Branch of the United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion at Chicago, 111., represents the Northwest, namely, 
the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, In- 
diana, and Minnesota. Fed by the patriotism and 
liberality of these States, it has done, and is doing a 
magnificent work with the armies of the West. The 
earnestness and devotion of its agents, both men and 
women, has not been and cannot be surpassed. They 
have lately been employed on a great enterprise called 
" The Northwestern Fair for the Armies." A letter 
received at this last moment from the Associate Secre- 
tary for the East, dated at Chicago during the progress 
of the Fair, speaks of it as " a splendid success " ; and 
adds, " I cannot express too w^armly the energy and 
devotion of these admirable women." * 

The Chicago Branch of the Commission receives im- 
portant assistance from a large society in Milwaukee, 
Wis. We cannot dwell at length upon what this society 
has accomplished ; but Mrs. Colt, the lady to whom is 
owing, in a chief degree, its great success, has written 
a few words addressed to the women of her State, which 
contain so vital a truth and so wise a prayer that they 
must be given here, in the hope that they may, in these 
pages, carry their influence to the women of the whole 
country. She says : — 

" A great difficulty which our surgeons have to con- 
tend with in their patients is homesickness. Medicines 
are then useless. If the men are not all heroes, let the 
women try to be all heroines. And let me beg every 

* We learn that the sum of money given to the Commission, as 
the proceeds of the Fair, exceeds $50,000. 



APPENDIX F. 283 

woman to write to her soldier cheerfullj, encouragingly, 
and heroically, or not at all. If they knew the effect 
of their letters of condolence and complaint, they would 
be more careful. A soldier came to me in Nashville, 
choking with emotion, his wife very sick, and he unable 
to go to her. I promised to write and have her cared 
for ; and it was only by reiterated promises that the 
letter should be written and sent at once that he could 
be soothed and comforted. As soon as my letter reached 
Wisconsin, she was perfectly well, and no doubt sorry 
she had written while feeling ill and lonely. I was 
surprised that letters from home sometimes pain instead 
of cure. 

" Women of Wisconsin ! Our country, bleeding at 
every pore, needs her soldiers, and needs them to be 
brave and cheerful ; and we look to you to keep them so. 
It is better than any other labor of love which you can 
do. If you must grieve, keep it from your sons and hus- 
bands. It is unwomanly to put your burden upon them. 
It is unworthy of our country's daughters ! And let me 
assure you, that, inevitable as are the horrors of war, 
everything is done by our Government for the wants 
of her soldiers ; and when she from her ponderous 
machinery works slowly, the United States ^ Sanitary 
Commission with its quick messengers of mercy is 
always ready." .... 

Oh, that all women would lay these words at heart ! 
We say all, for w^e know that there are many wives and 
mothers and sisters who give to their soldiers the cheer- 
ful courage which none hut they can give. But there 
are others who do not do so. To such women it must 
be told that, not very long since, a poor, weak, suffering 
man, harassed by the fretful letters of hi-s mother, said 
to the writer, " She worries me more than my wound." 



284 



APPENDIX G. 



APPENDIX G. 

Supplies furnished by the Sanitary Commission to the 
Army of the Potomac, July 1st to ^Ist August. 



Hospital 
"Furniture. 



Quilts 
Blankets 
Sheets 
Pillows 



30,197 

13,500 
42,945 
35,877 



Pillow-cases 49,096 
Pillow-ticks 2,269 
Bed-ticks 11,716 



Personal 


Clothing. 


Shirts 


87,994' 


Drawers 


48,303 


Socks 


80,322 


Slippers 


14,984 


Handkerchiefs 43,606 j 


Towels 


65,164 


Wrappers 


10,235 


Flannel bands 


3,684 



Hospital Delicacies. 



87,994 Condensed milk, cans 2,624 
Jellv, jars 6,959 

Tea", lbs. 541 

Spirits, bottles 1,026 

Wine, doni. gals. 570 

Wines, foreign, gals. 450 
Vinegar, bottles 692 

Syrups, " 1,435 

Beef-stock, liquid, lbs. 634 
Beef-stock, solid, lbs. 1,052 
Farinaceous food,lbs.l2,268 



Besides these things, a vast amount of miscellaneous 
articles, from rubber cloth of every kind, crutches, oiled 
silk, flannel, to eggnog, porter, and ale, was furnished. 

The work of collecting and forwarding these supplies 
was one of the heaviest of the unobtrusive works of the 
Commission. The hospital transports arrived at the 
various ports of Washington. Philadelphia, New York, 
and Boston, especially at the port of New York. Each 
vessel had to be met on her arrival with arrangements 
ready to unload her freight of sick and wounded men. 
She had to be overhauled, cleaned, and entirely refitted 
for the needs of another voyage. Besides this, the requi- 
sitions sent up from White House or Harrison's Landing, 
to meet the needs at those points, had to be carefully and 
liberally filled, and the vessel loaded and despatched. 
Sometimes three of these vessels arrived in New York 
during one week. Nor did the work end here. Sur- 
geons, dressers, nurses, agents, &c., &c., had to be ob- 
tained, their qualifications examined, besides many 



APPENDIX H. 285 

other laborious and worrying details which cannot be 
given here. 

To Dr. Agnew, in New^ York, special thanks are due, 
also to Dr. Jenkins, in Washington, (during part of the 
time,) for their share in this work, which was extremely 
laborious and most successful. No mention has been 
made in the text of the " St. Mark " and the " Euterpe," 
two magnificent clipper ships fitted up by the Sanitary 
Commission in New York as hospital transports. 
Owing to their want of steam-power, and their great 
draught of water, they were unable to go up the rivers, 
and were therefore used chiefly as receiving hospital 
ships in the waters of Hampton Roads. 

On Mr. Olmsted's return from Harrison's Landing 
he collected and sent down, at the most pressing need 
of the Army, (the shadow of scurvy was then hanging 
over it,) a vessel freighted with vegetables. A cargo of 
ice had already gone down. These vegetables proved 
of inestimable service, and were distributed to all .the 
regiments at Harrison's Landing. 



APPENDIX H. 

Constant and finally successful efforts were made 
by the Sanitary Commission for the release of these 
gentlemen. No doubt their release was given the more 
readily because of an earnest appeal in their behalf 
addressed to General Lee by twelve surgeons of the 
Confederate army who were within our lines after the 
battle of Gettysburg. On the return of these agents to 
Washington, they stated that Dr. Wilkins, surgeon in 



286 APPENDIX H. 

charge of the C. S. Military Prison No. 1, (the Libby 
Prison,) had informed them, that, if supphes of clothing, 
bedding, and reading-matter should be sent to his care 
from the Sanitary Commission, he would guarantee 
their distribution among the Union prisoners. They 
also stated that Capt. G. W. Alexander, A. A. G. and 
A. P. M., Castle Thunder, made a similar promise with 
regard to reading-matter within his precincts. 

These gentlemen added that the above supplies were 
greatly needed by our men, and that a distribution of 
such things would be of inestimable benefit to them. 

Of course it was questionable whether, if such sup- 
plies once passed the line, they would be permitted to 
reach their destination ; but the Commission gladly 
acted on the merest chance of their doing so, and felt 
justified in taking any trouble or expense in forward- 
ing supplies over our lines, provided such a course in- 
volved no violation of military rules and exigencies on 
our side. 

Accordingly, and in behalf of our brave and unfortu- 
nate officers and men now pining amid want, squalor, 
and mental inoccupation in the noisome prisons of the 
enemy, the Sanitary Commission brought the subject to 
the notice of the Secretary of War, who replied as 
follows : — 

" War Department, 

" October Sd, 1863. 

" Mr. Alfred J. Bloor, Asst. Sec. U. S. Sanitary 
Commission. 
" Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 2d instant, 
transmitting correspondence with General Meredith, in 
reference to forwarding Sanitary Commission supphes 
to the prisoners at Richmond, the Secretary of War 



APPENDIX I. 287 

desires me to convey to you his consent for the trans- 
mission of the articles named, through the lines as 
requested. 

" Very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"Jas. a. Hardie, 
" Assistant Adjutant- General." 

Supplies of those articles which were mentioned by 
the Confederate officers were at once forwarded by the 
Sanitary Commission, which has continued to forward 
from time to time supplies of the same nature ; also 
articles of sick-food, which are now permitted to be sent 
by the Confederate officers. 

Our Government has now, however, undertaken the 
supply of clothing and bedding. 



APPENDIX I. 

Hospital Cars. 

The importance of some improvement in the railway 
transportation of wounded men was deeply impressed 
on Dr. Elisha Harris, and other members of the Com- 
mission who witnessed the painful journeys of such men 
over the memorable route from Fair Oaks and Savage's 
Station to White House. To Dr. Harris the great alle- 
viation given by the invention of the hospital cars is 
chiefly due. These cars may properly be termed ambu- 
lances, for they are not only fitted up exclusively for 
the transportation of military patients, but they are fuT- 
nished with beds, (swung on elastic springs to prevent 



288 APPENDIX K. 

the jar of motion,) couches, pillows, and reclining chairs, 
a medicine closet, a complete cuisine and all the appli- 
ances and attendance of a hospital. They are venti- 
lated, warmed, and lighted with special reference to the 
wants of sick and wounded men, and most of them are 
grooved to run upon railways of different gauges, so as 
to avoid needless transfers of patients. Fourteen such 
cars have been prepared after the plans and specifica- 
tions of the Commission, and were wholly or in part 
furnished and managed by it. Ten of them are now 
running regularly on long routes, — four of them on the 
route connecting Louisville and Nashville with the near- 
est railway point to General Grant's Army. The ded- 
ication on the part of railway officials of the use of these 
cars has been generous and patriotic. The superintend- 
ent of a railroad company which constructed one such 
car, turned it over to the Sanitary Commission with 
these words : " I have no preferences as to where you 
run the car that has been fitted up in accordance with 
the plans and specifications furnished by yourselves. I 
therefore turn the car over to you, to dispose of as you 
deem proper, believing that you only desire to alleviate 
the sufferings of the sick and wounded." 



APPENDIX K. 

In this connection a little story must be told, — not that 
it is a very rare one, but because it happened only a 
few days ago, and has a freshness and charm from the 
manly character of the ofiicer about whom it is told. 

One of the associate secretaries had occasion to visit 



APPENDIX K. 289 

a post in the vicinity of Washington. The commanding 
officer, at the close of the conversation, said : " Now I 
must tell you something. I was colonel of a regiment 
when the war broke out, and one of your Inspectors 
came about my camp, and put me through the closest 
set of questions I ever had to answer. I do believe 
there were hundreds of them. Well, I did not like it, 
and I believe I told him I hoped I might never see him 
in my camp again. But since then I 've been sick and 
wounded, and I fell into the hands of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, and so have many of my poor fellows ; and, do 
you know, the other day that same Inspector came out 
here. I knew him. I don't know whether he knew 
me ; but there was only one thing I could do ; so I went 
to him and offered him my hand, and I said, ' May God 
give me the opportunity of helping the Sanitary Com- 
mission.' " 

And in this same connection we will give a letter 
published some time ago in a Wisconsin paper. The 
writer was an army surgeon. His mission to White 
House after the battle of Hanover Court House is dis- 
tinctly recollected by some of the hospital company sta- 
tioned at that point. 

" I was reminded so much by of what I have 

myself seen, that I feel like telling my own experiences 
with the National Sanitary Commission. 

" When I went into the field in 1861, I found a large 
proportion of the surgeons, for some cause which I have 
not learned, opposed to that Commission. It of course 
took me but a little while to become strongly prejudiced 
and bitterly opposed. Every agent sent to inspect us 
was made the subject of not very flattering remark. 
Every pamphlet which it issued was criticized. One 
19 



290 APPENDIX K. 

evening a number of surgeons met in my tent. The 
Commission soon became our subject ; something must 
be written against it, and I must write it. I was full 
of the subject, and I threw into my article all the force 
I could command. I had nearly finished it when the 
sound of artillery came booming over the country, — 
heavier and heavier grew the roar, — a battle was being 
fought at Drainesville. The surgeons dispersed to col- 
lect appliances for the wounded. The sufferers in the 
battle began to arrive. "We had scarcely anything they 
needed. The noise of the battle had reached Washing- 
ton, and by the time the wounded were examined, in 
came those sanitary agents with the very articles of 
comfort which Government had failed to supply. My 
article, which had been hastily thrown aside, I now put 
away to finish at a ' more convenient season.' 

" Time passed on and we found ourselves on the Pen- 
insula. In the haste of moving, most of the appliances 
of comfort had been left behind. . . . After the battle 
of Lee's Mill, I was almost without medicine, or any 
articles of diet for the sick, though I had been for weeks 
striving to procure them. What should I do ? Just 
then were discovered a number of ' those sanitary chaps 
who are always poking their noses into everybody's 
business.' Somehow or other they had the very things 
we needed. That night, after having finished my labors 
with the wounded, I went to my trunk, took out that 
article ' on the Sanitary,' and read a few lines. It did 
not read as well as I thought it would, so I raised a 
garment and put it under, where it would not stare me 
in the face every time I looked in. 

"The battle of Williamsburg followed; and before the 
smoke of the battle had blown away, right alongside 



APPENDIX K. 291 

of our Army lay one of those ever-present sanitary 
steamers, freighted not only with necessaries, but with 
luxuries for the sick and wounded. They had only to 
be asked for and they were distributed to us without 
limit. Another shirt was thrown over that article ! 

"I was in charge of Liberty Hall Hospital at the 
time of the battle of Hanover Court House. Here both 
the sick and wounded were crowded on me. Five hun- 
dred were piled in at one time. I had not a bed, not a 
dozen blankets, not a cooking utensil, and nothing to 
cook. In vain did I appeal to the medical director, — 
in vain did he appeal to higher authority. The neces- 
saries of life were scarcely to be had. I begged, I 
plead, — no use. A few days after the battle, on the 
breaking up of other hospitals, the wounded who could 
not be moved to a greater distance were sent to me, — 
some of them in a most loathsome condition, their 
wounds gangrenous and alive with worms. Again I 
appealed for assistance, and with such importunity that 
I was threatened with dismissal from the service. I 
procured a pass to White House. There I found the 
United States Sanitary Commission. I told them the 
story of the soldiers' suffering. Hundreds of clean sheets, 
blankets, bedsacks, and pillows were packed in less time 
than it needs to read the story. Boxes of condensed 
milk, farina, army soup, tea, coffee, sugar, oranges, and 
lemons were sent off with astonishing celerity. When 
I departed there was not a State represented in my hos- 
pital but found some article bearing the marks of home : 
New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, Mas- 
sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, all were there, 
— both in their soldiers and in their gifts. As I led 
one poor fellow from Pennsylvania to his bed, and he 



292 APPENDIX K. 

saw upon the clean white sheet the name of his family 
and his home, his convulsive sobs shook the building. 
.... The whole hospital wept ; and as I took my paper 
and thrust it at the bottom of my trunk, it may be that 
a few watery drops had fallen amongst its leaves 

" The Army arrived at Harrison's Landing. The 
sick had been sent ahead of us. In this connection I 
shall state but a single case in illustration. A young 
man from Milwaukee, in whom I felt a great interest, 
was found, after a long hunt, in an ambulance. He 
had all the symptoms of an approaching attack of ty- 
phus fever. Government transports were at the wharf 
taking on the wounded. I had the ambulance driven 
to the river, and asked a place for this young man. It 
was denied ; the transports were only to take the 
wounded. ' But he is in more danger than hundreds 
of wounded.' ' Our orders are peremptory. We take 
only wounded.' Thirty hours there would be certain 
death to him. What could I do ? I succeeded in 
reaching a transport which the Sanitary Commission 
had. I appealed to them. 'We have only two hundred 
and forty on board ; — we will take him.' He was sent 
to his home. And does the mother of that young man 
ever enter the Sanitary Commission rooms without 
gratitude to that Commission, — and without feeling 
that the means for furnishing the conveyance which 
saved his life were perhaps drawn from other States ? 
I pass over other scenes of suffering relieved which I 
witnessed at Centreville, South Mountain, Crampton's 
Gap, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. 

" At Antietam I took the paper from the bottom of 
my trunk, and, lest I might see it again, burned it. 
And now I declare upon my honor that I never wrote 
it, and that I never will do so again." 



APPENDIX L. 293 



APPENDIX L. 

When this book was ah-eady in type, it occurred to 
the writer that it contained no sufficient record of 
the gratitude of the soldiers themselves for the relief 
and succor of which the book has given a history. 
It was then too late to do more than make a selection 
from a few instances of their affectionate sense of 
what has been done for them, which happened to be 
at hand at that last moment. 

This omission must be excused on the ground that 
the gratefulness of the men, especially on or near the 
field itself, is so unceasing that it comes to be a matter 
of course, — forgotten at the moment, though remem- 
bered afterwards. It is indeed a chief source of 
strength and courage for the work of relief; and it 
seems as if it must always be understood as underlying 
the history of it. 

The following letters, &c., are, as we have said, hastily 
selected from a very small number of others happening 
to be at hand. 



" Tarrytown, May 22cZ, 1863 
" Mr. J. B. Abbott, Assist. Special Relief AgenU 

" Dear Sir, — Yours of the 20th came to hand, to 
gether with the draft for ninety-two -j^^ dollars, being 
the amount due from the Government to Thaddeus 
Seymour Davis, my son, (who is now dead,) for services 
rendered in 32d New York State Volunteers. I thank 
you for your kindness in this matter, and I know that 
many poor fellows bless you who have been the recipi- 
ents of your kindness, and God will bless those whose 



294 APPENDIX L. 

mission it is to bind up the wounds and minister to the 
needy in this holy cause. 

" Believe me truly yours, 
(Signed) " G. T. Davis." 

" Williamsburg, Long Island, Feb. 9ih, 1863. 
"To THE Same. 

" Sir, — With grateful feeling I acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of yours of February 6th, enclosing the draft for 
the amount due my dear brother. You have conferred 
a great favor on us. Accept the sincere thanks of my 
widowed mother — mine also — for your kindness. May 
I ask you, if not too great an intrusion on your time, to 
tell me what means my mother should take to secure 
the bounty to which my brother was entitled. If your 
time does not admit, then do not give it a thought. 
Present my compliments to the gentleman who accom- 
panied you to the hospital, (I did not ascertain his 
name.) I am much indebted for his kindness, and 
yours too. 

" Yours with much respect, 

(Signed) "Margaret E. Curran." 

" St. Paul, Minnesota, August ISth, 1863. 
" Mr. Fowler, Chief Clerk U. S. Sanitary Commis- 
sion, Washington. 
"' Dear Sir, — Yours of the 4th and 6th were received 
yesterday. I sincerely thank you for the kind spirit 
which you have manifested, and the trouble which you 
have taken to assist me. May heaven reward you, for 
earth is too poor. I am very sorry to hear of Rev. 
Mr. K.'s illness; please give him my best respects. 'Tis 
no wonder he broke down ; his labors were severe. I 



APPENDIX L. 295 

hope he may soon recover. I shall follow your kind 
advice relative to my pension. May God bless you and 
your noble associates, is the fervent prayer of 
"Yours truly, 

"John T. Halsted." 

To the Ladies who direct the Affairs or contribute to 
the Funds of the Cleveland Branch of the United 
States Sanitary Commission. 

" I want to thank you. I was wounded at Stone's 
River on the last day of December, 1862. Since then 
I have run the gauntlet of the hospitals from Murfrees- 
boro to Cleveland. At every stage of my painful prog- 
ress I was the grateful recipient of your priceless gifts. 
I owe the preservation of my life to a bottle of black- 
berry cordial, which was labelled ' Cleveland,' and sent 
to me by Mr. Atwater, Agent of the United States San- 
itary Commission, at Murfreesboro. It came to me at 
a time when I had scarcely any vitality left. It restored 
ray appetite, which I had lost entirely. That wine could 
not have been bought with money, — it was made and 
given by some great-hearted countrywoman. God bless 
her! 

" When I left Nashville the hospitals were well sup- 
plied, and the rooms of the Sanitary Commission were 
filled and overflowing. May they never be empty until 
the war shall close. 

" Yours, respectfully, 

"S. W. Shankland." 



296 APPENDIX L. 

From a report of Mr. Knapp, Special Relief Agent, 

" There is one other point which, although not strictly 
connected with sanitary affairs, seems to me worthy of 
mention. Among these thousand and more of sick men 
whom we have had in charge, I have met scarcely one 
whose anxiety for renewed health did not seem actually 
to centre chiefly upon this idea, namely, to have strength 
enough to fight for his country. Hundreds of those 
men go home with a feeling of bitter disappointment, 
to think that they can never strike that blow in their 
country's cause for which their arm and heart both were 
once so strong, while now the arm is palsied. I am 
more and more impressed, not merely with the patience 
of these men, but with their deep-seated spirit of pa- 
triotism. I am convinced that many persons in the 
community attribute to a mere love of excitement and 
to the attractiveness of a military life what ought to be 
credited to a genuine, earnest purpose. I have had 
peculiar opportunity here to get at the real feelings of 
a great many of these men, and I see more and more 
how strong and real a current of life flows down south- 
ward from our northern hills. Again and again have I 
wished that all doubting or lukewarm patriots could 
witness some of these scenes, which, to my eye, have so 
much real pathos in them, — men returning to their 
friends and their homes simply to die, yet without a 
complaint or regret, except that they were too weak to 
bear arms. Even those men who were prisoners at 
Richmond, but who have now been allowed to return, 
(as they are maimed for life, nearly every one having 
lost a limb,) even these men utter no complaints. There 
have been ten of them with us the past two weeks, gti- 



APPENDIX L. 297 

ting their papers of discharge and of pension, yet I have 
not heard a murmur from one. It has seemed to me 
right, in my report, to give this measure of testimony. 

"I will append to this report one letter of many, 
which, although addressed to me personally, belongs to 
the Commission and to the public, whose charities I am 
allowed to bestow. The letter is printed just as it was 
received : — 

" Sept. the 29 —61. 

" Dear Sir, on account of a feeling of gratitud tow- 
ards you I sit down to write a few lines to you — to 
let you know that my son arrived home on the 24th in 
very feeble health, about the same as when he left your 
House — & stil remains as week with verry bad Cough 
— when I herd him tel of the kind treatment he re- 
ceaved from you an entire Stranger and the kindness 
you Showd him, and the things you gave him — I could 
not refrain from Sheding tears of Gratitude I feel as 
though he found a friend in need which is a friend in 
deed. 

" I feel as though Heaven would Reward you for 
your kindness — it would be a pleasure to me to See 
Such a good Soul — as it is not money you was after I 
beg you to accept our cincere thanks and may God bless 
you — if we never meet on Earth may God prepair me 
to meet you in Heaven 

" Yours truly this from your obedient Servant " 



"PS my son will write you Soon if able Excuse 
my poor ignorant letter " 

" Did circumstances call for it, I could add many simi- 
lar assurances of gratitude, which come from humble 



298 APPENDIX L. 

homeSjj indeed, but from wives and parents who appre- 
ciate kindness bestoAved upon husbands and sons.* 
" Respectfully, 

"Fred'k N. Knapp. 
" Special Relief Agent of Sanitary Commission.^* 

From a sister who carried home living a brother who 
had lain for some time at the point of death. After 
giving an account of the journey, she says : — 

" James says, though he wanted to get away, and he 
is at home now with all the family, he almost wishes he 
was back where he had so much that was kind done 
for him. He says, ' Tell them, if I ever do any good in 
my life it belongs to them, for they saved my life and 
showed me what it was to be good.' 

" And I '11 never forget your kindness for giving me 
board and lodging, and so enable me to stay near my 
dear brother." .... 

A man writing from the Army^ says : " "We soldiers 
know best what the Commission is. You all see it, but 
we feel it. I bless the Sanitary Commission every time 
I see its name posted up — or think of it." 

From a private soldier {name unknown^ in a ward 
of a General Hospital. 
" Dear Lady, — Please pardon me, but I must say 
God bless you. I have watched you as you pass. I 
have witnessed with heartfelt gratitude your kindness 
and sympathy for the poor, sick, and dying soldiers. I 
am one of those who love humanity; — and may the 

* See a little pamphlet published by the Sanitary Commission 
called " The Lord will provide." 



APPENDIX L. 299 

heavenly influences of the departed loved ones ever be 
with you, is my prayer. God bless you. 

"From a Soldier. 

''July 23(?, 1863." 

The following poem was addressed to Mrs. , by 

a private of the 16th Regt. New York Vols. He had 
been in her care on board of a Commission boat at 
White House. After he returned to the regiment he 
sent her these lines. Surely no lady has ever received 
a more graceful acknowledgment of kindness: — 

From old St. Paul till now, 

Of honorable women not a few 

Have left their golden ease in love to do 

The saintly work which Christlike hearts pursue. 

And such an one art thou, — God's fair apostle, 
Bearing His love in war's horrific train ; 
Thy blessed feet follow its ghastly pain, 
And misery, and death, without disdain. 

To one borne from the sullen battle's roar, 
Dearer the greeting of thy gentle eyes, 
When he aweary, torn, and bleeding lies, 
Than all the glory that the victors prize. 

When peace shall come, and homes shall smile again, 
A thousand soldier-hearts in northern climes 
Shall tell their little children in their rhymes 
Of the sweet saint who blessed the old war-times. 
On the Chickaliominy, 

June 12th, 1862. 



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